Future Geniuses
by RedLotusNin
Summary: Tradition, Family and True Love, these 3 things are forgotten when we hear the word Shinobi. 3 geniuses. 3 stories. Second Generation Story DISCONTINUED
1. Hyuuga Jia Li

Summary: 2 sons, 1 daughter. Each one of them born from a different Genius. Get into the thoughts and the past of the daughter of Neji, the son of Lee and the son of Sasuke.

RLN: We have an upcoming fic called _Naruto 2_ which we were originally going to make into a doujinshi, but we couldn't because we were WAY too busy to do so. _Naruto 2 _will not be posted anytime soon, but I wanted to give you a sneak preview. Isn't that nice of me? Ha-ha. Anyways, this story revolves around one of the characters, she will not appear much in the story, but when she does, it will be a crucial part… ANYWAYS, hear we go.

There will be a minor fic spoiler in this, if you CAN NOT stand spoilers then don't read it.

This story is only three chapters long, so don't get mad at me for starting another story!

_Future Geniuses_

_Hyuuga Jia Li_

I didn't quite get why I was so disturbed about it. So I was never accepted among the other kids, so what? It wasn't that big of a deal. It was for a good reason, a reason I should've been proud of. You guys' aren't following, are you? It's simple, really. I always had a taste for talent, fighting talent. It ran through my genes. My mother was… no, IS one of Konoha's strongest kunoichi and is also a weapons master. My father is a highly respected jounin, who just so happens to be the prodigy of the Hyuugas, which is one of the strongest, if not, THE strongest clan in Konoha. Yes, he's Hyuuga Neji, the guy who earned himself the title 'Genius of Geniuses'. So it was only natural that the other kids used to look at me differently. Okay, it's still sort of confusing; I'll try making it clearer by starting in the beginning.

When I was little, kids used to look at me like I was the world's greatest weirdo. I wasn't accepted. I didn't look weird, I didn't act weird; you see, I was just… _too_ talented. It all started when there was a test. Our teacher decided to see what we were made of by sparring one kid against another. We were ten, and I was chosen to go against some boy. Apparently, my skills were so great, I ended up beating the boy up so bad, he got a bloody nose, and he _kind of_ broke his leg. So maybe I "overdid it". But I was a Hyuuga, Hyuugas were _naturally_ powerful. So, because of this, all the boys in my class, were, well, afraid of me in simple words, when I tried to play with the girls in my class, I got easily bored and whenever I made a suggestion on what to do next, which usually revolved around tomboyish things, they would always look at me as if I was a world class freak.

I ended up staying alone. While the girls were talking about boys, I was beating them up. While all the girls were playing with dolls, I was playing with kunai and shuriken.

I was lonely until a new girl came to our class. She was so talented she skipped a grade. I always thought she was similar to me, _naturally talented_. I thought this when she introduced herself. Her name was _Uchiha_ Haruko of the _Uchiha _clan, who was, next to the Hyuuga clan, the strongest. We became friends and she would always argue that the Uchiha clan was much more talented, but we all know that that is incorrect. But that's a different story.

My entire time with her I always believed we were the same, but we weren't. I discovered that when we became genin. We were stuck on different teams but we were still planning on being friends. Correction, _I _believed we would continue being friends. I just got my forehead protector and was looking for her through the crowd of graduates and parents. I finally found her with her _other _friends (She was quite popular) and I overheard them talking. Apparently, Tami's parents were throwing her a graduation celebration party, and Haruko was invited.

"Okay, I'll ask my mom if I can come," Haruko had said. Suddenly, Tami frowned.

"You're not going to invite Jia Li, right?" Tami had asked. Haruko seemed to think for a moment then, she laughed.

"Jia Li? You're kidding right? I only hang around with her because I feel _sorry_ for her. She acts like a boy," Haruko had said.

I was crushed. Then the next day, when she called and asked if I could come over, I snapped at her and hung up on her.

And that was it. I never saw her again, until a month ago. It was the chuunin exams, there was a preliminary round. I was paired to fight against the last person I expected, Haruko. It was a tough match, but it came to a conclusion.

It was a tie.

None of us became chuunin and we went from friends, to nothing, to rivals.

But that match bothered me all the time; and I would train and train and train until the next chuunin exams, so I could defeat her. Each punch and hit I threw was a combination of hate, bitterness and most importantly, revenge. I would not only beat Haruko, but I would become chuunin.

The next chuunin exams will start in six months, my younger brother will be competing. But he's no competition, powerful as he is, I'm stronger. He's 13, his teacher, who just so happens to be _his_ teammate's father, _my_ teammate's father and _used_ to be my _father's_ old teammate (I know, I know, WEIRD.) held him back a year as well as his teammates so he could train them more, that's why he's training harder, so he'll only have to compete in the exams once.

But I was held back for a different reason; because I lost to a brat. A betraying witch whom I hate.

Right now, I'm beating the crap out of a dummy. I'm training for the chuunin exams. I'm so frustrated, I wanted to become the next Hyuuga prodigy, to follow in my father's steps, but he became a jounin around 15, I was 15, and I wasn't even a chuunin. And I will once again, blame it on Haruko. The first chuunin exams my team tried out for, we failed the test. The second time, we couldn't find the Earth scroll in the forest of death. The third time, which was the recent time, they graduated, I didn't.

My byakugan spotted two familiar faces behind me. I turned around and the two looked like they saw a ghost. They were standing there for awhile and I was ignoring them, but they were beginning to get on my nerves, they were my teammates. I stand corrected, they were my _old _teammates. They were promoted to chuunin, of course.

"Hey Jia Li!" said Gai, who was named after his father's favorite teacher, Maito Gai, who happened to be my father's old teacher as well.

"What is it?" I asked, probably too cross, because both my ex-teammates looked at each other with worried expressions on their faces.

"Nothing it's just that, you didn't show up at the training grounds and we…" Gai trailed off.

"Well, I'm training here," I said, stating the obvious, I reached in my shuriken pouch and both my teammates… OLD teammates, freaked out for a split second. I threw the shuriken at a log that was standing up vertically. It has a target on it. The shuriken hit the bull's-eye.

"Besides, we're not a team anymore, you guys are chuunin now," I said bitterly, I did not even bother to look at their faces to see their expression.

"Hey, that's not true, we'll always be a team!" said Gai.

"Not technically—"my other teammate, Chido, blurted out, Gai elbowed him hardly.

"Look, just because we're chuunin, doesn't mean we can't be friends, right?" said Gai enthusiastically. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't the 'friendly' type.

"We're not friends, we never been friends, we never will be friends," I stated as I tugged out the shuriken from the target.

"What makes you say that?" asked Chido, sounding offended.

"It's the truth, because I don't have friends," I said. I meant that to come out coldly, but I guess it sounded more like loneliness, because they both looked at me sadly, as if they were feeling SAD for me. I was starting feel sorry for myself for a split second, but I snapped out of it and whipped my head in their general direction.

"But I don't care," I said, a bit too quickly. "Now hurry up for your 'training'."

"Okay," Chido sighed, and he walked off. Gai stayed behind.

"We actually came here to check on you. Training finished an hour ago. We wanted to see if you were okay, since we don't see you often and…" Gai trailed off.

"I don't care," I answered honestly.

"You should care. We always considered you our friend and you had to snap at us in a cold manner. What's with you?" his sudden change in mood took me off guard a bit. I frowned.

"Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" I said, coldly. I cut him off before he could start anything. "I'm a Hyuuga Jia Li, daughter of the Hyuuga prodigy Hyuuga Neji and the great weapon master kunoichi, I'm a member of the Hyuuga clan which just so happens to be one of the greatest… no, IS the greatest clan of Konoha."

"I'm talking to a ranting bitch that can't get on with her life normally because she had a fight with her friend," he said coldly. That _really_ took me off guard.

"How do you know about that?" I spat out.

"I'm friends with Akimoto, Haruko's older brother? Yeah, so I know Haruko as well," he said. "But honestly, I don't understand why you guys fought in the first place. I remember that you guys used to be best friends."

He left before I could blurt out the answer. I fumed the entire day.

The next morning I decided to go for a jog. I was running around and stopped when I saw a familiar house.

I saw the Uchiha household. I took in the image of the house.

"Who are you?" said a voice suddenly. I turned my head and saw a guy around my age, he was dressed in ANBU armor and had his mask (Which resembled some kind of mammal) hanging around the back of his neck. He was the type of guy that most girls fall for. But I wasn't like most girls.

"Who are you?" I repeated his question. He frowned. (Not that he was smiling)

"Uchiha Akimoto. I thought you'd know that. I'm the first son of Uchiha Sasuke. That's what makes me famous, I was the first kid born; I am the first step from the Uchiha resurrection. My name is worth knowing," he said.

"And you don't know who I am?" I asked.

"No, I don't," he said honestly.

"Well I'm not going to tell you."

"I told you my name," he said, his eyebrows furrowing.

"The girl you're looking at is the daughter of the great Hyuuga Neji, the man who earned him the title of Genius of Geniuses, the daughter of Tenten, the weapons kunoichi. I'm the rival of Uchiha Haruko, your sister. The girl you're looking at is next Hyuuga prodigy. You will know my name when I become it. If I never become the Hyuuga prodigy, then my name, unlike yours, won't be worth knowing."

End of Chapter

RLN: Short, yes. It's only 4 and half pages. Anyways, please review.


	2. Rock Gai

RLN: Second chapter up! Anyways, I enjoy writing this, so I hope you like this. Oh, and Aries Stephastone (Hope I spelled that right) yeah, I knew Jia Li was a real name.

_Future Geniuses_

_Rock Gai_

I never quite understood my dad. He was just a weird guy, I don't mean it in a bad way, but not in a good way either. He was an all around nice guy, but he was just… _weird_, especially his looks, which I, unfortunately, gained. His weird hair, teeth, eyes and most importantly, _eyebrows_. Praise the Lord I didn't gain his low fashion sense. It was hard to act like a normal kid when you look like a weirdo, or, better yet, act like a normal kid when you have a father like mine. Everybody thinks my dad and I are exactly alike, with our looks and everything, but we weren't the same, we looked the same but there was a _huge _and _crucial_ difference. He couldn't use ninjutsu and genjutsu, I could. Same thing with my little brother, he was good in all the arts. When it came to this no-chakra-deal, lots of people say my sister is the same as my father. But she's not. She looks nothing like my father other then her clothes are usually a green color and her hair and eyes are black. So nobody really knew who was most similar to my father. I think I was, because I had nothingin common with my mother.

Nothing.

She looked way different and she acted way different. Every time I thought about my mother, I couldn't find anything we had in common, then again, I don't really know much about my mother. Maybe we did have something in common, but I couldn't find it. I just… didn't spend a lot of time with my mother. The only thing I _really _know about her is her weakness. But that was because her weakness was obvious. Very obvious.

Kids used to make fun of my parents. When I was eleven, I got suspended for two days for beating up a kid for making fun of my parents. You couldn't blame me, but the kid was a good actor, and I was known for getting angry easily. He said the only person who would marry my father was my mother, because the only one who would 'marry somebody that hideous' was a blind person.

I didn't know, I still don't know, about my mother, but I still cared about her. So I beat up the kid for making fun of her problem. Being blind wasn't something you should make fun of.

But now that I think about it, that kid was probably right. I know my father would have a hard time getting the attention of girls… well, in an intimate way anyways, I'm _positive_ his looks would get their attention. Looks were a big part, despite how nice you are. You couldn't marry a butt-ugly guy even if he was nice, you could, butt it'd still bother you. When my dad was a teenager, 13 to be more specific, he had a crush on a girl named Haruno Sakura, who's known as Uchiha Sakura now. I find it quite hilarious and ironic that I like Uchiha Haruko, who just so happens to be Sakura's daughter. It's too freaky in my opinion.

Speaking of Uchiha Haruko, I standing right outside her house and… er, no, I'm not a creepy stalker. I'm actually waiting for her brother to come out. We're kind of friends.

Uchiha Akimoto stepped out of his house. I was practically bouncing in my spot, until I saw the look on his face. I frowned.

"Did she say no?" I asked. I was looking at my feet.

"No," he said, to my surprise. I looked up, shock written all over my face.

"You mean, Haruko said…"

"She laughed," he said, before I could finish. I stared at him. Was he joking?

"You're joking."

"I don't joke. She laughed at me, or, technically, you, she laughed so hard she had tears in her eyes," he said. My heart sank heavily.

"Yo, what's up?" asked a voice behind, I saw my old teammate, Chido, walking up to us.

"Gai's depressed," said Akimoto. I frowned greatly.

"No I'm not! I never said I was!" I shouted. As I stated before, I got angry easily. He was right, but I was in denial.

"Why?" asked Chido.

"He asked… I mean, I asked Haruko if she wanted to go out with him," said Akimoto. Chido turned to look at me.

"Pathetic. You couldn't even ask her out yourself?" he asked, before I could snap, he turned to Akimoto. "So what'd she say?"

"Well… she didn't say no, but she didn't say yes," started Akimoto. Chido looked at me and grinned.

"Alright! So she's thinking about it!"

"Er, no," I said. "Apparently, she just laughed."

Chido frowned, "oh, sorry man. But you have to admit, she's not that big of deal. There are other girls."

I erupted like a science project volcano.

"Other girls? Other girls! There's no girl in the entire world that compares to Haruko! She's pretty and smart…"

"Jia Li's smart, not bad looking either," added Chido.

"Well, Haruko's strong!"

"Jia Li's just as strong," said Chido, I gave an angry huff. Since when did Jia Li get into the argument? Did they honestly believe Jia Li was better then Haruko? Well, she wasn't, no, ISN'T.

"Jia Li hates everybody and is bitter, cold hearted and stubborn, Haruko's NOT," I argued.

"Kameko's nice," said Akimoto, popping into the debate.

"KAMEKO'S MY SISTER!" I yelled.

"Hey, you said no girl compares to Haruko, we're just debating there are girls who are better, when never said you had to date them," said Chido. He then added, "don't have a cow, Gai."

"You are so hot blooded," said Akimoto, smirking.

"Am not!" I said hotly. My two friends just gave me a look. I frowned. "Okay maybe a little. OKAY. Maybe a LOT. Oh god. Who am I kidding? I am hot blooded."

Akimoto was satisfied with the answer, Chido grinned.

"Anyways, while on the subject of Jia Li, who is she?" asked Akimoto. I resisted the temptation to blurt out that Jia Li was a bitch, which she was, by the way.

"She's the daughter of Hyuuga Neji," Chido explained. Akimoto raised an eyebrow.

"Hyuuga Neji? I think I met her yesterday," he said.

"Really?" Chido and I asked in unison.

"Yeah, she was jogging. I was coming home from an ANBU meeting, she didn't give her name, but she mentioned her dad being Neji. I guess she wanted to be 'the next Hyuuga prodigy' or whatever. I knew Neji, but I had no idea he had a daughter, I only knew he had a son."

"Two sons, Hyoshi and Lok, and one daughter, Jia Li," I said.

"Ah, yeah, I think I heard of Lok. I guess he went to the hospital and my mom treated him or something," he said. Chido and I looked each other in unison.

"He… yeah, when he was four he got hit by nunchaku," I said.

"Really?" said Akimoto.

"Yeah, Jia Li was training with them and…" I found it quite embarrassing and awkward to go from there.

"He got hit in the head, and now he's a weirdo," said Chido, finishing it for me. Akimoto made a face.

"I doubt that," he said.

"He hangs upside down and eats paper," I said in a rather blunt voice. Akimoto stared at us for a while, before realizing we were completely serious about it.

"Oh," he said in an awkward voice.

"Well, I better get going, thanks again Akimoto," I said, I sighed and walked off.

I felt a little miserable. I mean, I HAD gotten rejected before, but she LAUGHED. She laughed till she had TEARS in her eyes, and the sad thing was, I thought I actually had a chance with her. She WAS the closest thing to a girlfriend I could have. When I finally dragged my sorry butt home, things only got worse.

My dad was home.

I stopped myself from groaning. He, however, was incredibly happy to see me. I could tell, because he was grinning so widely I had to block my eyes from the light reflecting off his teeth.

I was going to end up blind like my mother if he didn't stop smiling.

"Er… hi dad," I said awkwardly.

"Hello!" he said, too enthusiastically for my liking. He then walked up to me and put his hand on my shoulder. His grip was surprisingly firm. He asked, "You know what _I_ heard today?"

I was almost afraid to ask, so I didn't ask. We just stood there, for a long time, so I gave up.

"What?" I asked.

"_I _heard an interesting story from Lok today," he said. I stared at him, expecting an answer. He said nothing.

"Erm… what was the story?" I asked awkwardly. His big, enthusiastic smile faded away into a large scowl/evil glare.

"WHAT. THE. HECK. WERE. YOU. THINKING?" He screamed, word by word. I said nothing, I just stared at him, my eyes wider then usual, if that's possible anyways, since I probably have the largest most circle-shaped eyes ever.

He threw his hands up in the air in a dramatic fashion. I felt as if I just shrunk and he grew.

"YOU CAN'T CURSE AT A GIRL!" he yelled. I raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. He then put his fist on his hip and poked my chest with his other hand.

"LOK TOLD ME YOU CALLED JIA LI AND 'Interesting' WORD TWO DAYS AGO!"

I concentrated a bit, and flashbacked to two days ago. Oh yes. I called her a bitch that day. Because she WAS a bitch.

"Yeah," I said. "I did."

He stared at me, as if expecting more. I looked around awkwardly.

"Erm… I called her a bitch?"

"WHAT?" He erupted. I knew my dad had a thing against swearing, but I never realized he'd make such a big deal out of it.

"YOU CAN'T SWEAR, ESPECIALLY TO A GIRL!" he yelled. I had a problem with that sentence. Jia Li did not act like a girl, scratch that, Jia Li did not act _human_.

"Oh," was all I really said.

"THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELF!" he shrieked, like a banshee. "'Oh'. 'OH'? OH! OH, OH, OH, OH! YOU KNOW BETTER THEN THAT! WHAT KIND OF SON DID I RAISE!"

I didn't really say anything; I just kind of shrugged my shoulders. My father didn't realize that since he was too busy ranting.

"I MEAN, I CAN EXCUSE 'darn' SLIPPING OUT BUT WHAT YOU SAID… THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!" my dad screamed.

Darn? That wasn't even a swear. Crap was worse then darn.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry," I said unenthusiastically. He blew up (again).

"DON'T APOLOGIZE TO ME!" He yelled, I guessed what he was going say next, 'apologize to Jia Li.' Don't tell me that. I swear I'll kill him. "APOLOGIZE TO JIA LI!"

He said it.

"OKAY. THERE IS NOBODY IN THE UNIVERSE WHO CAN APOLOGIZE TO JIA LI WITHOUT GETTING: A. A COLD INSULT, B. YOU'RE A—I MEAN, 'darn' KICKED AND C. IGNORED, TOTALLY IGNORED JUST SO YOU CAN FEEL LIKE A TOTAL IDIOT FOR EVER THINKING YOU CAN APOLOGIZE TO A COLD HEARTED, OVER ANGSTING, OVER HATING, PRIDEFUL, ANGRY SNOB!" I yelled back. He stared at me for the longest time, after moments of staring at each other, his eyebrows furrowed.

"'Snob' was uncalled for," he said.

"THAT'S NOT EVEN A SWEAR!" I yelled.

"It's still used as an insult directed at somebody."

I didn't even say anything. It was official. My dad was a weirdo, both physically and mentally.

Especially mentally.

"Whatever," I muttered; I stomped off into the house. I was climbing up the stairs when someone called me.

"Gai?" I turned around and saw my sister, Kameko. "Geez, what are you wearing?"

I looked at my outfit. It was just a black shirt and shorts. It wasn't abnormal.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, don't you think it's a little… impractical?" she asked.

"How?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. She sighed.

"Don't tell me you forgot again. I swear, you have the short term memory of a snail," Kameko muttered, as if I wasn't standing RIGHT in front of her.

"What'd I forget?" I asked.

"Don't you have a important mission today?" She asked. M jaw dropped. I forgot all about it! (Obviously)

"OH SH—DARN!" I corrected my self. I ran up stairs and like… five seconds later I was running down the stairs in my chuunin outfit. I ran out the door.

"THERE YOU ARE, NO WE CAN FINISH OUR—"started my dad.

"NO TIME! MISSION! FORGOT!" I yelled back, continuing to run.

"BUT I'M YOU FATHER!" He yelled from behind me.

When I arrived at the Hokage's office, I guess I wasn't late. Two other chuunin were in there, and I knew Chido was late.

"Just sit," said the Hokage, not looking up from his stack of work. I did as told. I sat next to a chuunin that was really old, like my dad's age or something. He turned around and looked at me.

"Hey, you're… Rock Gai right?" he said.

"Erm… yeah," I said.

"Wow. You look EXACTLY like your father."

"Hmm. Yeah. I get that sometimes," I pretended to give a small laugh, but it didn't really work. So I just gave an uneasy grin.

"You're really lucky," he said. I was?

"I am?" I asked. He laughed.

"Of course you are. Your parents are so… inspirational. And you're named after Maito Gai, the only guy who could really compete with Hatake Kakashi."

I did really say anything. My parents were weirdoes, not heroes. They can't be 'inspirational'. And about the silly rivalry between Maito Gai and Hatake Kakashi about a million times.

"You know, my kid can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu, because his mother's not a ninja," he said. I just kind of looked at him. I wish I didn't, because he was smiling at me so much, he could've been in our family. "My wife always says 'why do you want to be a ninja if you don't have ninja talent' and he always says 'I want to be like Rock Lee, the taijutsu master!'"

The what? Taijutsu master? More like the taijutsu obsessed fool. Geez. That kid must be mental if he wants to be like my father. Start brushing your teeth, kid.

"Are you the same way?" he asked. I looked at him confused. "Are you going to be a taijutsu master too? Like your mother and father?"

"My mother?" I said confused.

"Yeah, your mom was a ninja, I guess she quit after having children, makes sense," said the man.

"Yeah well, taijutsu is my strongest point, but I can use ninjutsu and genjutsu. So I don't really see why I should just train one point when I can make all points as equally strong," I said/explained. He looked disappointed.

"Oh, that's too bad," he said. It was?

"It is?" I said. He nodded.

"Yeah, I was kind of hoping that you'd end up like your father, the 'Mighty Green Beast of Konoha,'" he said. What the heck?

"No, I'm sorry, Maito Gai was the 'Mighty Green Beast if Konoha,'" I corrected.

"Well… you dad's version 2.0," he said. "Gai was strong enough to beat Hatake Kakashi, who had the sharingan eye."

I was shocked to hear that. I never knew much about Hatake Kakashi, this explained why he was the Copy Nin.

"And… I heard when he was 13 he beat Uchiha Sasuke."

Uchiha Sasuke? Akimoto's dad?

"Hey wait," said a voice, the chuunin and I looked at the desk. The Hokage was looking at us. "You guys talking about eyebrows?" He then looked at me. "Oh. Now I know why. You're his son right?"

"Erm… yeah."

"Geez, how HAS your father been doing lately?" He said, grinning. I was starting to feel sick in my stomach; my dad was personal buddies with the Hokage, what's next? My sister Kameko is named roughly translated 'Child of the Tortoise' because my dad had a secret obsession of turtles? Yeah right.

"Erm… he's okay," I said awkwardly.

"Good then," he said. "I've been friends with your dad since I was 12, course, he was 13 at the time but… still. He's a good guy, a really good guy. Secretly disliked him though when he blew a kiss at my teammate though, especially since _I_ had a crush on her at the time. But he blew me away when he fought the preliminary match at the chuunin exams."

"What happened?" I asked.

"You don't know?" he asked.

"Not really."

"You know Gaara, right?"

"Gaara? Kazekage of the Sand village Gaara?"

"Yeah, he has this sand barrier, every time you try to strike, sand blocks it, leaving your attacks pretty much useless, he didn't care if he killed and destroyed his opponent, in fact, he kind of enjoyed," he said. "Your father was paired up to fight against him. I always thought it was impressive that he beat Sasuke… well; I didn't see him fight because he knocked me out, but anyways, he was fighting Gaara, all of his hits were useless against the sand barrier, then he took of his weights."

There was something I knew about.

"He threw of his weights; each one caused a loud explosion when they hit the grounds. Obliterated the whole thing."

There was something I DIDN'T know about.

"He was quick and he managed to outrun the sand," said Naruto.

"You mean he struck Gaara?" I said. Was my voice excited?

"Yep. Then he started using his strongest attacks, like he opened the eight gates and everything."

"So… he beat Gaara."

He frowned, "unfortunately, no."

I frowned too. He continued.

"Turns out, Gaara was wearing an armor of sand the entire time. You father's techniques made him weary. Gaara made the finishing blow. He crushed you dad's legs with his sand."

"That can't be true. My father's still kicking. Literally."

"Well, that is true but…we later got Grandma Tsunade as our Hokage."

I've heard of her.

"Tsunade, as you probably know, was a great Medic Nin. She offered Lee a chance at a surgery, but there was a catch," he paused a bit. "The surgery was 50-50."

"What does that mean?"

"It means even though Tsunade, the great Medic Nin, only had a 50 percent chance of giving a successful surgery. And Lee did it."

I wasn't sure whether to call my father really brave, or really stupid.

"Why would he risk his life just so he could run again, he could use crutches, right?"

"Yes. But your father, when it came to be a ninja, was pretty much useless then. He couldn't use ninjutsu of genjutsu and then, doctors told him he couldn't use taijutsu. Of course, he still wasn't so sure about it, in the end, it was Gai who really got him to do the surgery."

Was he trying to kill my dad?

"He said that if Lee's surgery didn't go successful, he'd kill himself."

I felt a bit guilty for always mentally making fun of my name.

"Of course, the surgery was successful. But he had to be careful from then on," he said.

"Heh, nobody can tell my dad to sit down," I said. The Hokage grinned.

"Exactly. I was on a mission then. A very close friend ran from Konoha, of group of genin and a chuunin were sent to get him, I was one of them. I was fighting a guy named Kimimaro, and was pretty much getting my ass kicked when Lee just runs in and saves the day. He fought Kimimaro while I went after the runaway ninja. Like you said, nobody could tell you dad to sit down. And that was the reason why he became so successful." He paused a bit. "You father was so… 'Hot-blooded.'" He said, smirking.

_"You are so hot blooded," said Akimoto, smirking._

Geez. That explained a lot.

"SORRY I'M LATE!" Chido yelled, as he barged through the door.

"Yeah well, we were just having a chat. Your mission is C ranked. I need you to check out the farms, there have been lots of attacks and we're not sure if it was a human or animal. I want you to stay as long as you can and give a report every chance you get," the Hokage said.

"Right," everyone said in unison.

As we were taking off, I felt a really guilty for thinking about my dad and his teacher were nothing but a bunch of goons.

Maybe when I got home I'd apologize to my dad.

And to everyone else for that matter.

End of Chapter

RLN: I hope I got all of Lee's stuff right; I was too lazy to skim through previous chapters. Please review!


	3. Uchiha Akimoto

RLN: The next chapter. I got a lot more reviews then I expected, so that's a good thing.

_Future Geniuses_

_Uchiha Akimoto_

_Again?_ That was the only thought that was going through my mind right now. I stared blankly at my mother and father.

"Again?" I said. My mom didn't seem so happy with my reaction.

"You're not happy about this?" she asked, looking a bit upset. I never wanted to make my mom upset, she was usually cheery. So I wasn't going to say I WAS upset. I was just going to lie.

"Uhm… no, just shocked, that's all," I said.

"Liar," my younger brother whispered in the corner of his mouth. Thankfully, my mom and dad didn't seem to hear him.

"Well, if that's it, I guess I'll leave now," I said, getting up.

"Wait, just like that?" my mother asked. I frowned.

"I have an ANBU meeting," I said. That was my quickest excuse. My brother coughed which oddly sounded like 'liar'. I shot a glare at him which caused him to shut up immediately.

"Well… okay," said my mom, not looking so happy, but trying to make it seem like she WAS happy. Which she wasn't. I headed out the door and the moment I took two steps out when somebody grabbed my arm; I turned around and saw my sister, Haruko, grabbing my arm.

"Sheesh, you are the worst liar I have ever seen," she said. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"Yeah, Kiyoshi already pointed that out, now why are you here?"

"I told mom and dad that I wanted to say goodbye to you but…"

"You actually wanted to cheer me up?"

"No," she said. She said it so quickly I was insulted. But then she added, "I'm irritated too ya know. I mean, this is like, mom and dad's fifth child?"

"Well… they do want to revive the clan…" I said slowly. She frowned.

"I don't think that's it. I'm starting to think they're just plain old kinky."

"Haruko!" said a voice; we turned around and saw Kiyoshi.

"That's disgusting! Don't say that!" he said.

"You can't get pregnant on the first try!" said Haruko.

"Uh, can we please drop the subject?" I asked, wanting to get away with thinking my parents were… well…

"Yeah, I agree with Akimoto," said Kiyoshi. Haruko then looked at me. "So where are you going to go?"

"Excuse me?" I said, trying my best to hide a dumbfounded look.

"Well, Chido and Gai are on that mission, and you told mom you're going to an ANBU meeting. Sheesh Itachi, if you're going to lie, at least have a back up plan," said Haruko. I frowned and glared at her.

"Don't call me that!" I snapped. She shrugged.

"I can't help it, old habits die hard," she said. It was an old habit, but it was offensive. She and my brother would always call me 'Itachi' because I progressed at the same rate he did. At 7 I mastered the sharingan, Itachi was eight when he mastered his, I graduated at the academy with top grades at 8, he did the same at 7, and at 10, I became chuunin, and at 13 I was offered the part of ANBU captain, same as him. Of course, I never accepted the part because I didn't want my dad to have a heart attack, so only my siblings knew. They called me Itachi for two years after that no matter how much I told them to shut up.

They even said I looked like Itachi. Which I didn't. I didn't have those freaky deaky lines on my face and I didn't activate my sharingan 24/7. I did have long hair, but I didn't have it tied, it was usually just down. So I didn't look anything like Itachi.

"I don't care if it's an old habit, quit it," I said, trying to sound not too irritated. I guess I failed at that because they just stared at me.

"O…Kay…" they said slowly.

"By the way… I forgot," I added. I looked at Haruko. "Gai was a bit upset when you turned him down—"

"Gai? You mean the guy with the weird eyes?" asked Kiyoshi. He looked at Haruko. "That guy asked you out?"

"Don't smirk! Just because he's a weirdo, that doesn't give you the right laugh at him," said Haruko. I resisted the urge to yell out hypocrite.

"I wasn't smirking because of Gai, I was smirking because I can't believe he likes _you_," said Kiyoshi. She frowned greatly.

"What part of that you cannot believe?" asked Haruko.

"Don't even get me started…" muttered Kiyoshi. If Haruko didn't have super strength, I would've said the exact same thing.

"We're getting a bit off subject. Haruko…" I said, Haruko looked at me. "I just want you to maybe… _reconsider_ your choice."

"Reconsider? Akimoto, I laughed till I had tears in my eyes, what makes you think I'll reconsider?" she asked. That sentence would've been perfect if she used a colder tone.

"I'm just saying…" I said.

"No, I don't think I'll reconsider," she said. I frowned. Not that I was smiling.

"I don't get why you keep saying no, he's a great guy…" I said. She huffed.

"If he's so great then why don't you go out with him yourself?" she snapped. I took note that the corner of Kiyoshi's mouth twitched.

"Haruko, I'm not gay," I said.

"Then how come you never go out with any of the girls that like you?" asked Haruko.

"What girls? There are no girls," I said.

"I'm assuming you're either really gay or really slow," said Haruko bluntly. I rolled my eyes. She huffed, again. "Did you know that I haven't seen any of my friends' houses because they all want to come here. You know why they come here? Because they like you. Practically every single girl in Konoha likes you, and you never notice that."

That explained the annoying giggles.

"Even if your theory was right, I'm way too busy for dating," I said. Haruko crossed her arms.

"Why? Because you're too busy training? Just for the record Akimoto, there's more to life then being a ninja."

"And this is coming from the mouth of a girl who'd rather fix her make up then sharpen her kunai."

"Hey! Important things come first!" she snapped.

"Whatever," I said, walking off.

"Where are you going?" asked Kiyoshi.

"Training," I said.

"He is so predictable," Haruko muttered, but I could clearly hear her.

I usually trained alone. I liked it better that way. Fewer distractions. Konoha was a big and busy place, so it wasn't always easy to find a nice place to train, away from the loud noise. So I usually trained in the forest. Nobody went in there, so it was better that way.

Chido always wondered why I trained in the forest, I told him I didn't like being around too many people, he always pointed out that I came from a big family.

Although that was true, I was still used to being alone. I never spent much time with my family. Since I became chuunin at only 10, I was already sent on a lot of missions, and things didn't get better when I became ANBU at 12. So I was training a lot in the beginning of my life, and I had a lot of missions later. I was constantly away from home.

On those rare occasions I was home, my dad usually avoided me. My mother was constantly busy either with her medical stuff or with my siblings. My sister, Haruko, was usually gone with her friends or out on a mission with her team. My brother was either training or at school. And my youngest sibling, Kohana, was usually at home. However, out of all the people, I was usually spending my most time with Kohana.

Kohana was probably the only person who I didn't completely ignore. Dad taught her a couple of moves, I wish I could do the same.

Because I was constantly away, I never got a chance to be taught by my own parents like my siblings did. I usually had to rely on the basics, my father's fire jutsu, and most importantly, my sharingan. I haven't learned to summon anything, I haven't learned my mother's medical abilities and I never learned how to use super strength.

There was a lot I knew but you can always learn more. That's why I wish Haruko would stop worrying about things that DID NOT matter. Such as DATING or BOYS or LOOKS or BOYS or MAKEUP or BOYS. And did I mention boys? I swear that's the only thing she ever thinks about. She knew all the things I DIDN'T know. She could use super strength, she had medical knowledge, she could summon both slugs and snakes, and she could use her sharingan effectively… but guess what? She doesn't. Because she's too busy think about BOYS. I swear if she would just take advantage of what she had she would be a great kunoichi. But she always says…

_"Puh-Lease Akimoto. I think you forgot which one of us is the obsessed-of-being-a-ninja-fool. There are other things then just being a ninja. For me, it's… well… there's dating and… well…give me time, I got to think."_

She never came up with another reason, by the way.

Right now, I made it to the woods and training by throwing kunai at a target. I never once hit the bullseye.

My aim bothered me a lot. When I was six, I was practicing with shuriken. I would always get upset because I never even hit the target. I threw and threw but it never worked. Then my dad came up and tried explaining to me a better way to throw it.

_"Try throwing it like a Frisbee."_

He threw it and hit the ring outside of the bullseye. I have no idea why but I got really pissed off. He did it once and he did it perfectly. I tried it a million times and I couldn't even get it right on the target. I ignored his advice and threw it my own way.

I never hit the target.

Even today my aim was off. I could hit the target, but it never got even close to the bullseye. Once, I got so pissed off, I burned the target with my 'Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu' skill. My dad nearly killed me when I almost burned down the house, but I got my punishment when my mother used her super strength to knock me back so far I was at least two blocks away from our house. Haruko would still rub it in my face. If I trained at home, she would say 'I'll call the fire department now' or 'Burn down the house and _I'll _punch you two blocks away.'

"Shit," I swore, when a shuriken nearly killed an innocent squirrel. The said squirrel ran up the tree like a bat out of hell. A bird started squawking. It sounded like it was laughing.

"Shut up," I muttered. Suddenly, the bird stopped squawking. Then, it flew away. Something was up.

Before I even had a chance to react, a shuriken flung out of nowhere and cut my right shoulder.

I did see it coming by the way. I just look surprised so I can fool my enemy... (RLN: Yeah… rrright.)

Then, the said enemy threw more shuriken. That was just giving away their position. I was about to run towards the group of foliage where the shuriken came from but I came to an abrupt stop when a kunai was at my throat. Then the enemy said…

"Oh. It's you."

The kunai withdrew and turned around and saw Jia Li.

"You're that… person," she said. I frowned. She still didn't know who I was?

"If you saw me before then why did you attack?" I asked. Her face reddened.

"Uhm… I thought… I thought you were… a girl…" she stuttered, clearly embarrassed.

I looked like a girl?

"I look like a girl?"

"Yeah well, if you didn't wear you hair down when it was so long then…" she trailed off. "Anyways… you were in the forest and most girls don't do that so I thought you were… Uhm… stalking me or something. But you're a guy. So I guess that's okay for you to… Uhm… train here."

"I always train here. I was going to ask why you were here."

"My brother, Lok, was getting in the way of my training. He kept bothering me."

I flashbacked.

"_Ah, yeah, I think I heard of Lok. I guess he went to the hospital and my mom treated him or something."_

"_He… yeah, when he was four he got hit by nunchaku."_

"_Really?"_

"_Yeah, Jia Li was training with them and…" _

"_He got hit in the head, and now he's a weirdo."_

"_I doubt that."_

"_He hangs upside down and eats paper."_

"_Oh."_

"Erm… I heard he's kind of… not right in the head," I said awkwardly.

"Yeah but…" she trailed off.

"Anyways… Uhm… do you mind?" I said.

"No," she said. Nothing happened.

"Well?" we said in unison.

"I thought you were going to leave," we said in unison again. We glared at each other. "I'm not going to leave!" we shouted together.

"Shouldn't you be training at your house?" Jia Li asked.

"Too many people," I said.

"Well, you should go by them. You need all the help you can get," she said. I glared at her.

"I'm an ANBU."

"A bad one. I've seen your aim. It sucked. You can't even throw it right," she said.

"I hit the target, didn't I?"

"Was the squirrel your target?" I stopped the instinct to blush.

"W-Well… I…" I got over my embarrassment. "I bet you couldn't do any better!" Almost immediately, she pulled out a shuriken and threw it.

Nobody in the world could express how pissed I was when it hit the center of the bullseye.

But then it hit me. She hit the bullseye.

"What the… how'd you do that?"

"Pfft. I hit it because I throw it the _right_ way," she said. I rolled my eyes.

"I know. I have to throw it like a Frisbee," I said.

"Uhm… no," she said. "Everybody says that. Don't do it. Do the Fan method."

"The fan method?"

"Yeah. Throw it out in a spread like fashion. It's supposed to be used for multiple shuriken. If you use the right amount of strength, it should hit the target. The Frisbee method isn't very good because you could poke yourself in the chest. As for the stance… you should probably make your left foot go forward more then your right."

"The handbook says it's supposed to be only slightly ahead of your right…"

Jia Li rolled her eyes. "God. Do you always listen to handbooks and your father? Stances vary on the thrower. You throw it too high, it's because you're tall. Moving your foot farther up can help your body make a 'swooshing' motion. Trust me on this."

I tried it.

You know how I said nobody could express how angry I was when she hit the bullseye? Well, somebody probably could. But nobody could express how pissed I was when _I_ hit the target, one ring and a half outside the target. It was a record.

Jia Li was obviously pleased about it because she was crossing her arms and smirking.

"Don't get so full of yourself. From what I've heard, you're only a genin."

"It's just a name," she muttered. "It's your sister's fault anyways."

I just shrugged. She looked surprised by that.

"Aren't you going to so something?" she asked. I looked confused and asked why. "Well…" she said. "Usually, if somebody makes fun of my brothers I'll stand up for them and… well, you just shrugged when I insulted your sister."

"Doesn't matter."

"Yes it does. They're your family," she says.

"I haven't been home long enough to defend them."

"Why not?"

"I'm on missions all the time."

She kind of stared at me for a moment.

"Well…" she started.

"What?" I asked.

"Nothing. It's just that… with such a big family I expected you to be a family kind of guy."

"Well… I'm not."

"Oh. Because of your missions?"

"Yeah."

"Oh… well, I dunno, my family always comes first to me…"

I was a bit surprised to hear that. Gai and Chido always made it sound like she was a heartless fiend that only lived on people's pain.

"That's surprising."

"It is?" she said.

"Yeah. Chido and Gai made it seem like being a ninja always came first."

"Well…" she trailed off. "Don't listen to them. They're idiots."

I resisted the urge to laugh.

"But…" she continued. "I know that they will always be there, even if I fail."

It was quiet for awhile.

"I'm gonna go," I decided. She just nodded. When I left the area I headed for home. Geez, I never thought somebody so similar could act so differently.

Maybe it was kind of like Itachi. We may seem so similar, but we were so different in reality.

Because even if I didn't know them much, and I was never there, I would never hurt my family. Maybe Jia Li and Haruko were right. There was more to life then just being a ninja. There's family.

Maybe I'd teach Kohana a few moves when I got home.

End of Chapter

RLN: Sorry if the ending sucked. Since I had so much fun writing this story, I may add a few more chapters later.

Remember, this was your sneak preview of my upcoming fanfic _Naruto 2_. The same characters and of course, others will appear. I hope you check it out when it comes out!


	4. Part 2: Jia Li

RLN: I decided to keep going because I enjoyed writing this so much and ideas kept popping in my head, here's he next chapter!

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 2: Jia Li_

I was getting so confused. Chido and Gai were supposed to be back from their mission a week ago.

The idiots. It was only a C classed mission; it shouldn't take them so damn long. All they had to do was check out some farms. If I was a chuunin, it wouldn't take me so long. But I wasn't, even though I should've been one. The world would be a better one if I was chuunin. I cursed Haruko for making me lose again.

"Hey Jia Li!" said a cheery voice. I turned around and saw my relative, Hikari, coming by. She was like… the daughter of my father's cousin. She just so happened to be the Hokage's daughter as well. Hikari, for some reason, was not a Hyuuga. Not a real one anyways. She didn't have the byakugan, but instead, she had blue eyes. Like her dad. It was confusing, especially since her younger and only brother had the white eyes.

"Oh, hey," I said. She came up to me.

"So… what's going on?" she asked. I just moved my shoulders up and down and said nothing much. "How are Gai and Chido?" she asked.

"They're still on their mission," I answered. She thought for a moment.

"Oh yeah, dad told me that. He's kind of…" she trailed off.

"Pissed off they didn't come back?" I tried.

"No, more worried then angry," she said.

"Don't tell him to worry," I said. She looked up at me and smiled uneasily. "You're that confident about them being okay?" she asked. I shook my head.

"No, he's the Hokage; he's not supposed to worry about stuff like this."

"You don't have any faith in them?" she asked. She kind of looked upset about this.

"Well..." I said uneasily. She told me I should worry, since they were my teammates. I just shook my head out of my thoughts. "I… don't care what happens to them. We went our separate ways. We're not teammates. We're not friends either."

"That's kind of a depressing thing to think…" she said. I didn't really say anything. She looked around.

"So uhm… well, where's Hyoshi?" she asked. Hyoshi was my brother. I just shrugged. "I guess I'm going to look for him then." And she ran off.

_"I… don't care what happens to them. We went our separate ways. We're not teammates. We're not friends either."_

I never considered them my friends, ever. And with the way I acted, I knew they didn't consider me their friend either. That thought kind of bothered me for some reason.

"Jia Li!" sang a voice. I turned around and saw my younger/youngest brother hanging upside down from a tree. This wasn't abnormal for me.

"What is it, Lok?" I asked.

"You have a boyfriend!" he laughed. I raised an eyebrow.

"What in the world are talking about?" I asked.

"I overheard daddy talking to mommy. His name's… Yu…" he paused to think. I resisted the urge to tell him not to strain himself. "Yu… roka."

"Yuroka?" I said bluntly.

"I dunno," said Lok, shrugging. (RLN: Is it possible to shrug when you're upside down?)

I never heard of a name that sounded as silly as 'Yuroka' it sounded like 'You Rock uh'. From what I concern, Yuroka wasn't even a name.

"You sure about this, Lok?" I asked.

"More then positive," he said.

"What exactly did mom and dad say?" I asked.

"Uhm…" he started thinking. "I dunno. They were talking about you and Yuroka in their bedroom." I rolled my eyes. Lok overheard something, but I doubt he heard it right. I decided to find out myself. I entered the Hyuuga Estate and after taking of my shoes I went to my father's room. True enough, my parents were talking in there. Before I could even knock on the door, it swung open. I jumped in surprise when I saw my father. He jumped slightly too.

"Oh… uhm…" he started.

"Who's 'Yuroka'?" I asked. Making little quotation marks with my fingers.

"Who?" said my mother in the background, raising an eyebrow.

"Lok said he overheard you guys talking about some… Yuroka guy," I told them. My father murmured something about how he knew he sensed something, or along the lines of that anyways. My mother gave a silent 'oh'.

"Oh, I think he means 'Yutaka'," she said.

"I think the real question here is why Lok was eavesdropping on us," my dad grumbled.

"Oh," I said. Yutaka was this guy around… two years older then me. He was like… I dunno. My really distant relative. Like… my great grandfather's brother's grandson or something like that.

"So… what about him?" I asked.

"Well, uhm, we were just going to tell you but since you came to us… we were kind of arranging you to uhm, marry him," my mother said awkwardly.

"Oh," I said. I was a bit surprised that I was going to be arranged to marry, but I already knew I was going to marry within the clan. Since my father married and bred OUTSIDE of the clan, that made me only half Hyuuga. To keep the clan going on pure, I'd have to marry inside the clan. If I wanted children anyways.

Then again, now that I thought about, I shouldn't be SO surprised to be arranged to marry. I actually kind of preferred it that way. Less trouble for me trying to find somebody.

And that DID explain why Yutaka kept bothering me when I was trying to train. I was a bit pissed about that, especially when I was practicing with my shuriken and kunai. I mean, if he wasn't a Hyuuga, that kunai SO would've hit him.

He was skilled though. Really skilled. He was in the ANBU.

"So you're fine with this, right?" said my mother.

"Uhm… yeah," I said.

"Because you do know that he's in ANBU right?" asked my dad.

"Uhm… yeah," I repeated.

"Meaning you probably won't go on any missions, if you do go on any at all," said my mother.

"Uh-huh," I said, only half listening. My father and mother kind of looked at each other.

"You… do know where we are going with this, right?" my father asked.

"Yeah perfectly," I said, only half heartedly.

"It means you don't have to be a ninja once you get married, you know this right?" asked my mom.

"Yep," I said. I was getting so bored of this conversation; I was just really murmuring anything that came to mind.

"And… you're okay with that?" said my father, raising an eyebrow.

"Whatever," I said. My parents looked at each other again.

"Uhm… I guess you can go then," said my father awkwardly.

"Yep," I said. Of course, I wasn't really pay attention so I was just standing there like an idiot.

"Uhm… bye?" said my mother.

"Oh!" I said, finally jumping out of my trance, I left the room and was about to head over outside when suddenly I paused. It took me awhile to function the entire conversation in my head.

And when I finally did…

"WHAT!" I screamed. I opened the bedroom door.

"I told you she wasn't going to be okay with the 'not being a ninja' thing," my dad muttered.

"Oh, be quiet Neji," my mother hissed.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M NOT GOING TO BE A NINJA!" I screamed.

"Uhm… see, you're still a genin, and you're 15, once you become 17, you can't be a genin anymore, when you're a Hyuuga anyways. What I'm trying to say is that… uhm…" my mother was kind of lost at words.

"So you're saying I should stop being a ninja since Yutaka is in ANBU and can make enough money for the both of us?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Uhm… yes?"

"…" _I_ was at lost for words.

"I told you she wasn't—"my dad started.

"Neji, will you shut up?" said my mom.

We ended up getting into a very long conversation. I wouldn't be surprised if it was longer then an hour. Although I hated the fact, nonetheless the thought of it, I said I'd stop being a ninja after the chuunin exams, so I wouldn't fail my team. I was always the obedient type. My ninja work usually came first but… maybe that'd have to change. After all, I always said my family came before my ninja work…

And I never lied.

Although it was hard to say I'd give up right on the spot like that, I could do it. Even hard things were easy to give up, for me anyways. Like my friendship with Haruko.

But being a ninja to me was practically everything.

I didn't continue my training; I guess there was no point. I also felt kind of sick to my stomach too.

I was going to head off to my room but a servant came up to me. I forgot her name, but she was around 18. She was blushing.

"Uhm, somebody's at the door, wanting to see you," she said quietly. Confused I headed off to the front door. When I opened the door, I immediately knew why she was blushing.

The pretty boy was here.

"Oh, you," was all I said. Akimoto looked up.

"You're going on a mission," he said simply.

"A mission? What kind of mission?"

"An A-Ranked one. We're on a rescue mission," he said.

"What kind of rescue mission?" I asked.

"Over a week ago, a group of chuunin went on a C-Ranked mission to check on some farms, they have not sent any messages or reports on their mission…"

I was speechless.

"I think you know what mission I'm talking about," he said. I stared at him.

Those idiots.

End of Chapter

RLN: I'm pretty sure you guys know what chuunin they were. Sorry for this short chapter, the next one should be a lot longer.

For anybody who's waiting for my other stories, I'm updating _Who's the Best?_ _High School for Idiots _and _The Shika Ino Cho Trio_.

AMV Fanatics: I just watched an AMV (Anime Music Video) in which I cried like a baby. In the beginning of the AMV, there were some touching moments with Iruka and Naruto and then in the middle, there were some tear jerking Haku and Zabuza parts, and at the end, I cried like a pathetic baby when they had some very good SasuSaku moments. The AMV is called Calamitous Gallantry. Just go to NarutoCentral dot com, go to music videos, then go to page 3, and it should be at the very bottom.


	5. Part 2: Rock Gai

RLN: Long… Chapter… (twitch)

_Future Geniuses_

_Rock Gai: Part 2_

Never in my life did I think I'd be put into a position like this. Sitting in a forest with 1 eighth of a village…

Being chased by the scariest group of Missing Nin I've ever seen.

Actually, they were the only group of Missing Nin I've ever seen, but you get my point. They were really scary.

So far, we've managed to escape them for a week. The only people who were alive were me, Chido and Ringo, the chuunin guy who talked to me when we were in the Hokage's office; there were also a bunch of the village's families with us. But that still meant nothing. All of us were in terrible shape. Especially Chido, he was so beat up he could barely walk. The families couldn't do anything to fight. We tried to retreat many times but Chido wouldn't let us.

See, we were here for about two days and the villagers turned out to be real nice people, and the Missing Nin, for some unknown reason, decided to massacre the village. The killed animals were supposed to be a warning.

There were four Missing Nins. Three male one female. But even so, we still kept losing. They were freakishly strong. Or we were just too weak, since the mission was underestimated. Chido kept talking us out of retreating whenever we brought it up. If we retreated, there was a high chance that many of the villagers would be killed.

As nice as the families were, it was too risky either way. If we stayed, we just keep getting killed. Ringo and I kept debating with him.

"No!" said Chido stubbornly.

"Stop being a damn saint Chido and think of what's on the line here!" I snapped. "We can't stay here! We'll just get killed!"

"Villagers might still be here, _they_ could get killed! We have to beat the Missing Nin!"

"HAVE YOU LOOKED AT YOURSELF DAMNIT!"

"WILL YOU STOP SCREAMING AT ME!"

"Chido, you're my friend and everything, but if you don't start using your head, then we're all going to die!"

"Chido," said Ringo, coming into the conversation. "If we stay, we could all get killed, if we go, some may survive."

"But where will they go afterwards!" exclaimed Chido. "Their village will be destroyed! They're nothing but poor farmers; they won't be able to go on like that!"

"WHY DO YOU HAVE TO BE SO STUBBORN!" I screamed.

"WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN TO WHAT I'M SAYING!" he shrieked back.

"I DID! I AM! THIS IS STUPID!" I screamed. "OUR LIVES ARE ON THE LINE HERE!" He glared at me.

"STOP BEING SO SELFISH!"

"I'M NOT!"

"STOP!" yelled Ringo. He then said in a calm voice, "we can't yell, _they're_ going to find us if we do."

"We've been staying in this village for a week and we lost most of our comrades, we're the only fighting power left," I said, trying to calm down. "If we die, then the villagers will die."

"This isn't an easy decision," admitted Ringo. "But we need to get home."

"Right," I said, finally happy this debate was going somewhere.

"Fine then," said Chido. I resisted the urge to jump up and down. My urge went away when I saw the look on his face. "But I'm not going."

"What?" Ringo and I said in unison. "Chido, stop being an idiot!" I added.

"I'm not being stupid!" he snapped.

"Yes you are!" I hissed. "You can't even walk right and you honestly believe you can take out those guys! I wouldn't be surprised if they were high A ranked ninjas!"

"That doesn't matter! We're the only hope this village has! We only have 6 families! And not all of them are complete!" he argued. "Do you any idea how many people are out there?"

"Do you have any idea how many DEAD people there are out there! Chido, please, stop acting like a jackass and let us leave!"

"Gai—"

"NO!" I yelled, cutting him off. "IT'S TWO TO ONE! WE'RE LEAVING WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT! THAT'S FINAL!"

"BUT—"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled. "I TOLD YOU ALREADY, IT'S THE FINAL DECISION! IF YOU WANT TO STAY HERE AND DIE BE MY GUEST!"

I turned to Ringo. "I'm going to round the villagers up."

"DON'T WALK AWAY! I'M NOT THROUGH!" yelled Chido.

"Then come and get me," I said. Chido glared at me.

He attempted to stand up.

"Chido! You can't stand!" exclaimed Ringo.

"I'm fine!" he snapped, as he managed to get up.

"Apparently not," I said, as he almost immediately fell back down. "It doesn't matter. We'll knock you out and drag you back home if we have to."

I left the area to get back to the villagers.

I hated fighting with Chido, but what needed to be done needed to be done.

I stepped in front of the families who all looked real worried. They immediately stopped whispering among themselves to look at me.

"You guys are going to follow us, we're going to retreat from the village," I said. Immediately, a girl around a younger age stood up. She looked no older then 11.

"You can't do that! I still don't have my baby sister and parents and the rest of my family for that matter!" she exclaimed. A girl who was around my age immediately stood up and got the little girl to sit back down.

"Not all of us have our entire families, now that it's mentioned, we can't leave!" said a man.

Immediately, more then half the room was buzzing and complaining about their families and what would happen to them.

"Okay, then we can stay here and all die," I said, rolling my eyes. I wasn't cold hearted, and I really didn't want to see them get slaughtered, but this wasn't even my mission. My mission was just to check what was going on.

"Just grab your stuff and get going," I said.

"YOU GUYS ARE NINJA!" screamed the same man. "YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO HELP US!"

"IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED, THOSE NINJA OUTCLASS US SO MUCH IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY! YOU HONESTLY EXPECT TWO CHUUNIN PLUS A CHUUNIN WHO CAN'T EVEN STAND TAKE OUT NINJA WHO SALUGHTERED THIS ENTIRE VILLAGE!" I screamed, my blood boiling. "WE KNOW IT'S HARD BUT—"

"IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY!"

_"Is that all you have to say for yourself! What on earth have I taught you!"_

_"Dad, stop, you're embarrassing me," I said, trying to avoid the snickers from the other boys in my class._

_"I don't care! You SHOULD be embarrassed! You deserve to be embarrassed! You know better then to hit another kid!" he yelled._

_"WHY WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!"_

"BECAUSE I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU!" I yelled. I heart froze for a second as I realized I recited my father's words, the day that one kid made fun of my mother for being blind. But I never told my father that.

Everybody stared at me.

"… I'll be back," I said. I went back to Chido and Ringo.

"So what's going on?" asked Ringo. I sighed heavily.

"Let's find those other villagers," I decided. Ringo's face was shocked while Chido's face lit up.

"Seriously?" said Chido.

"No joke, is that okay Ringo?" I said, looking at the older adult, he smiled uneasily.

"Well, if you boys really want to… then yeah, I want to help," said Ringo. I smiled too.

"Right, I'll go, you two can stay here and—"

"Uhm… I…" said a voice. The three of us turned our heads and saw a girl with thick brown curls in her hair and was pretty short. I immediately recognized her as the girl with the little sister.

"Uhm… I-I thought…" she trailed off. "Uhm… my mother was a n-nurse so I h-have some medical a-abilities, so if I could be of a-any use… b-but if you think I'd just get in the way then…" she trailed off once again.

"We could use as much help as we can get," Ringo admitted truthfully. Her face lit up a bit.

"So what's you name?" asked Chido.

"A-Akina," she replied.

"Alright, since Chido's half dead, you think you could help him out?" I asked. I saw Chido mouth the words 'half dead' with a confused expression.

"Depends on what's the p-problem," she said quietly.

"He can't stand," I said.

"I got knocked on my side really bad," Chido explained. "And it kind of hurts whenever I get up." (RLN: I'm no doctor… I don't know what can hurt you bad enough to a point where you can't stand up)

"Kind of?" I said bluntly.

"Okay, it hurts a lot," said Chido, rolling his eyes. "I think it's just a really bad bruise."

"I can see what I can do…" Akina said, "I could find some plants that could help ease the pain a bit… so you can walk without it hurting at least." She got up and got ready to leave but I stopped her.

"Maybe somebody should go with you," I said.

"No, I think I'll be f-fine…"

"No, Gai's right," said Chido.

"I'll go," said Ringo.

"But everybody else…" Akina started.

"Hey, you're our doctor," said Chido. She still didn't look so sure.

"Don't worry, it won't take long, right?" said Ringo.

"I-I guess you're right," said Akina, still looking uneasy.

"Then let's hurry," said Ringo. Akina nodded and they ran off. Chido and I looked at each other.

"How long will it take?" asked Chido.

"Dunno. But if Ringo runs like that, they're not coming back anytime soon," I said, grinning. Chido laughed, but then he stopped and smiled.

"What made you change your mind?" he asked.

"Probably guilt and my inner saint," I said, running my hands through my hair.

"Inner saint?" said Chido with a laugh.

"Don't laugh," I said, with a sigh. That just made Chido laugh louder. It took a long time before Akina and Ringo came back. Akina and Ringo and already had the medicine made in a bowl and Akina even brought some bandages.

"All you have to do is rub it on the wound. It might sting so…" Akina handed the bowl over. "Then just wrap the bandages around."

"Thanks!" said Chido, grabbing the bowl; he placed it next to him.

_Don't tell me he's going to—_

My thoughts were snapped out of my head when he did it. He took off his shirt RIGHT THERE.

Akina stepped backwards, her cheeks red. I bonked him on the head.

"OW!"

"YOU DUMBASS! NOT NOW! YOU COULD AT LEAST WAIT UNTIL SHE LEAVES!"

"I'M IN PAIN! YOU CAN'T HURT ME!"

"WELL I THINK I DID!"

"WELL I THINK I'M GOING TO KILL YOU ONCE I'M OKAY AGAIN!"

"Guys…" said Ringo, sighing, while Akina was covering her poor eyes with her hand. I was going to yell at him some more but trailed off when I caught a sight of his bruise.

"God… is it that humanly possible to be that big?" I asked. Chido looked at his side. The bruise practically took up his entire side. It was a deep purple. (RLN: Again, I am no doctor)

"That's what I thought…" said Chido. He then shrugged it off. "But it's going to be okay, right?"

Akina nodded, but her hand was still covering her eyes.

"Geez… that looks really bad," commented Ringo.

"Can you guys stop staring?" asked Chido. "I mean, is it really THAT bad?"

"Yes," Ringo and I said in unison.

"Besides," I added. "You _should've_ done it later."

"Don't be an ass Gai," said Chido, awkwardly rubbing the ointment on the bruise. He stopped. "Am I doing this right?"

"I think so…" I said.

"He is," stated Ringo.

Chido finished up and wrapped the bandages on (I had to tie it though) and he said it was better, but it stung a bit when he moved.

"Should we go searching?" I asked.

"Somebody should probably escort the villagers to Konoha, just until…" Ringo trailed off.

"We don't have enough guys to do that," I said. "We'll start off tomorrow. That way Chido will be better."

"Geez Gai, since when have you been such a leader?" asked Chido, half jokingly.

"Oh shut up Chido, and put your shirt back on," I said.

"But it's gonna hurt," Chido whined. Ringo and I glared at him; he immediately pulled his shirt back on.

"It's safe," Ringo said to Akina. Akina uncovered her eyes.

"Is there anything else I can h-help with?" she asked.

"Well, if you know any extra ninjas around these parts…" Chido joked.

"I know a few basic techniques," said Akina. Chido, Ringo and I all looked at her in unison. Akina blushed from the sudden attention.

"You do? Like what?" I asked.

"Kawarimi… uhm… Bunshin, a very basic Shousen Jutsu (Mystical Hand Technique), and I can control chakra very well so I can climb walls and trees but that's all I know really…" said Akina nervously.

"Group meeting," I announced. Ringo, Chido and I huddled together, well, not really, since Chido was still sitting. But you get the idea. We were close enough so Akina couldn't hear us.

"You think we should bring her along?" I asked.

"Well… she could be helpful, but she doesn't know any real techniques that could help on offense," said Ringo truthfully.

"Well, I got an idea," said Chido. Ringo and I looked at him. "I have a million elemental tags."

"Elemental tags?" Ringo asked, puzzled.

"Chido's favorite weapons," I explained. "They're like explosion tags, only there are different types. Some shoot out kunai, fire, electricity, all that good stuff."

"I see. That could help," Ringo said truthfully.

"Not to mention she has a million defensive moves," Chido added.

"So you're saying we should risk it?" I asked.

"I'm saying we should give her a shot," said Chido.

"Okay, meeting over," I announced. We all turned to look at Akina, who was fiddling with her fingers and looking at the dirt.

"Okay, if you're willing to take the risk, we're going to allow you to join us. Chido's will lend you his elemental tags," I explained to her.

"I'll help then," she decided, her voice a bit more bold then usual.

"Alrighty then," said Chido, grinning.

"Alright, we're going to go, you haven't healed all the way Chido, so you should stay here," I said to Chido. Chido looked more then annoyed.

"Do I have to stay behind?" he asked.

"Yes," I said, I was irritated.

"Fine, fine," said Chido, rolling his eyes. Ringo asked where the elemental tags were and Chido handed over his backpack.

"The black box has the elemental tags," said Chido.

Ringo pulled out a small black box. He handed the box over to Akina.

"Alright," I said as I secured my kunai pouch. "One of us has to stay here."

"Hello. I'm staying here," said Chido. I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, like I'm gonna feel safe leaving a half dead guy here."

"Should I stay?" asked Akina.

"No. You don't have much experience, actually, you don't have _any_ experience, it'd be scary to leave you here protecting a bunch of villagers," said Ringo. He then offered to stay.

"You sure you can handle everything here?" I asked.

"Positive. You guys get going," said Ringo.

"Right. Let's go," I said. Akina and I left.

Surprisingly, I could run as fast as I wanted to because Akina was fast. I was surprised since she wasn't a real ninja.

"You think we can really b-beat those guys?" asked Akina.

"Just relax," I advised. I could tell she was a nervous wreck.

"I'll try," she said in a quiet tone.

"Staying relaxed is the best thing you can do. Stay calm," I said. Akina nodded her head to show she understood.

I was one to talk. My heart was thumping like crazy. It was times like these that made me wonder about Akimoto. He went on so many missions like these. In fact, he probably went through missions like this every single day. I kind of understood why the ANBU was so respected. They had guts.

Suddenly, I stopped. Akina stopped as well.

"What's wrong—"

"Shh," I shushed. She was quiet, but was looking at me with the most worried expression on her face.

"Okay, I think it's—"

I was cut off quickly when I got knocked backwards. I fell on my back. I saw Akina fall too. I got up quickly, kunai in hand. Nobody was there. I was wondering what kind of jutsu it was and who or what performed it.

_What? _I thought furiously. Akina had managed to get up too. Her skin was pale. Then I heard something. I grabbed Akina forearm and dragged her behind a large tree.

"We need an elemental tag," I said.

"R-Right," she said. She opened the box. I and Akina stared at the box, and our eyes widened drastically.

"The tags are gone," gasped Akina, as she stared at the empty box.

"The tags… why are the tags go—"I stopped myself. My eyebrows furrowed.

"What?" she asked, when she noticed my expression.

"That dumbass," I hissed under my breath.

"What?" she asked totally puzzled.

"Chido," I said with a sigh. "He decided he can do everything on his own. Cocky bastard."

"He took the tags?" she asked, confused. "Why would he do that?"

"Because he wants to be the hero," I explained.

"You should be thanking me. I am the expert when it comes to those tags. Not you two," said a voice.

"Speaking of the devil," I muttered, looking up the tree branches to see Chido sitting there, hidden behind the leaves. I doubt his bright orange hair would hide him for long though. I glared at him.

"So much for giving her a shot," I hissed at him.

"Don't worry, I got it covered. Oh, and by the way, I suggest holding your breath," Chido said. He performed a couple of hand seals. Suddenly, with small booming noises that went off one by one, a white smoke filled the air. Everything happened so suddenly I didn't get a real chance to take a breath. I covered my nose and mouth. I made sure Akina was doing the same thing and she was.

The smoke eventually cleared. After it did, all three of us took a big breath of the clean air. I looked up and Chido who was looking around.

"What was that?" I asked.

"Well," said Chido. "It was a gas. It was supposed to knock out the opponent but nobody's here, so they must be far away."

"So they're not here?" I asked.

"They're long gone," said Chido.

"GOOD, BECAUSE I'M GOING TO GIVE YOU SUCH A HIT!" I snapped, focusing my chakra into my feet as I leapt up into the tree. As soon as I landed, I was about to punch Chido, Chido's hands were up ready to block my blow.

"WHAT'D I DO?" He screamed.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK?" I snapped. "YOU STOLE THE TAGS AWAY FROM US AND THEN YOU PLANNED THIS! WHAT'S RINGO DOING?"

"He's taking the villagers to Konoha," Chido explained. "And I wasn't going to leave this place, so I snuck away before Ringo could realize I was gone."

"Wow. You had this all planned, didn't you?" I said in blunt tone. He glared at me.

"Geez, you know me better by now. You know I never run away like a sissy."

"You're not being a sissy, you're helping—"

"You know what? I really don't feel like arguing in the middle of a stink'n forest," Chido said.

"THEN _GO_."

"Come on. You need as much help as you need," said Chido. He then looked at me with this serious face. "Besides. You're going to need me."

"Eh?" I said confused.

"I set traps all over this place," said Chido in a whisper.

"You did?" I said, my eyes bulging out. Chido nodded.

"Okay fine, stay," I said with a sigh.

"No problem!" said Chido, grinning ear to ear. I sighed again. He was beginning to get on my last nerves. Hopefully, there were no more tricks.

Unfortunately, I was wrong later on when we had run into the missing nin that had attacked us. Apparently, Chido was bluffing about the traps so he could tag along.

The missing nin we were facing was the female. She could use wind jutsu and that explained what had happened when me and Akina got flown away.

"Chido, I really wish you weren't bluffing," I said. A temper vein popped on the back of my head.

"Sorry," he apologized. "But it doesn't matter, we'll take her down."

"We better, if we don't, we'll die."

Akina seemed to pale even more after I said that.

"Let's go," Chido said. He threw multiple elemental tags at our opponent. She simply put her hands out and wind blew them away.

"Chido, why'd you do that?" I snapped.

"Don't worry," he said he threw kunai. The kunai pinned the tags to the ground. The tags burst into clouds off black smoke.

"The smoke will hide us for awhile," said Chido. Chido looked at Akina. "I suggest hiding until you opportunity to shine comes."

"O-Okay," said Akina. She moved as quickly as she could to find a hiding spot. Chido faced me.

"And this is _our _chance to shine," he said.

"I'll go that way, you go the other way, we'll double gang her," I said. We ran off in opposite directions. I went to the right, he went to the left.

I waited for the opportunity. My heads clenched into fists so tight my knuckles were beginning to turn white. The smoke began to clear.

Now.

I charged forward and the smoke lifted. The woman realized there really was no way out. I saw Chido charging from the other side, a fist by his side.

We both attempted to punch the woman in unison, but when we did, she was replaced by a log. A substitute.

"Shit," swore Chido.

"Where is she?" I asked.

"Gai?" said Chido in a whisper.

"What?" I replied back in a low voice.

"When she comes, get as far away as you can. I got a plan," he said.

"Okay."

We waited and I saw Chido secretly perform some hand seals. The silence was killing me and my heart was pounding like crazy. Then the moment came. She attacked. I followed Chido's instructions and jumped backwards, getting as far away as I could. The woman stabbed Chido with a kunai. Chido was replaced by a log.

Just when I was about to curse Chido for having such a lame plan, I noticed something.

The kunai was jammed so far in the log, she couldn't get it out. Little did she know there was something on the log.

Suddenly, the log went off with a loud bang. An exploding note was placed on the log and it went off. When the smoke cleared the girl was not there. Suddenly, my heart skipped a beat. A kunai was at my throat. I gulped.

"I wouldn't move if I were you," she said in a cold voice. Her kunai got even closer to my throat. The cold blade was just barely touching my skin.

"Come out you brats!" she yelled. Nothing happened.

_Good, don't come out, _I thought to myself.

"COME OUT YOU BRATS OR I'LL KILL YOUR FRIEND!"

_Don't come out, _I thought furiously. But I knew Chido would do something.

"I'LL GIVE YOU TO THE COUNT OF FIVE! ONE!"

I noticed a bush rustle, but the woman didn't seem to notice.

"TWO!"

Chido was in there. I knew he was.

"THREE!"

He was going to come out. I know he was going to.

"FOUR!"

"DON'T COME OUT!" I screamed. The woman jumped.

"YOU BRAT!" she snapped. "YOU'D RATHER DIE?"

"JUST DON'T COME OUT!" I yelled, ignoring her. Now, the blade was touching my skin. I froze.

"Shut up," she said coldly.

"Nobody's coming out? No one? That's too bad then," I could see her glaring at me. "Then you may die."

At the last second, as if it was a miracle, the woman got sent flying. I turned my head and saw Ringo there.

"What're you doing here?" I asked, gaping at him as if he was God.

"I noticed Chido was gone so I came out looking. And here you are," he said.

"He's fine, thanks, I owe you," I said.

"Well, we are team, right?" he said. I smiled softly and nodded.

"Then let's go!" said Ringo, clenching and unclenching his hands. I notice Chido slip out of his hiding spot.

The woman got up uneasily. She glared at us coldly.

"You will all die," she hissed as she performed her hand seal. She placed an open palm on the floor and murmured something I couldn't hear. Suddenly, what looked like a small tornado was speeding toward me and Ringo. The wind was strong and dust flew in my eyes we were both sucked in. When we were inside, I felt sharp cuts slash my entire body. When I looked more closely, there was scythe shaped chakra inside this 'tornado'. I was dizzy from the spinning and I felt like vomiting. The slicing was sharp and quick. (RLN: The technique is like Temari's attack, only it's a tornado shaped thing not a gust.)

Finally Ringo and I got thrown out. The scars hurt terribly. I heard quick foot steps and saw Akina.

"I have to help you guys out," she said.

"No, we're fine for now," Ringo said. "You should go back into hiding."

"Well, shouldn't I—"

"He's right," I said. "We're fine."

"Well, if you're completely sure…"

"Come on, there's Chido," said Ringo. Chido ran up to us and asked us if we were alright. We said we were fine as Akina stepped away from the battlefield.

"I say we take down this bitch quickly. She's get on my last nerves," said Chido, glaring hatefully at our opponent. "Threatening to kill people's comrades…"

"Let's not get hasty now," said Ringo, trying to calm me and Chido down. Our blood still boiled. "We _will_ take her down, but we need to do it calmly."

"Fine. What do you suggest?" asked Chido, after taking a big breath to try and relax himself.

"… I thought you guys might have a plan," Ringo admitted. Chido slapped his forehead while I sweatdropped.

"Okay, what do we know so far?" I asked.

"She's a scheming bitch who will do anything to win."

"Chido, this is serious."

"Well, she can attack at two different directions at once," said Akina from behind. We looked at her.

"She's right," said Chido, looking back at me and Ringo.

"There are three of us, maybe if we attack from all directions…?" suggested Ringo awkwardly.

"I'm not sure if that'll work…" I said truthfully.

"We have to give it a shot," said Chido.

"Fine, let's go quickly," I said. We planned that Chido would attack from behind. I would attack in front and Ringo would attack from one of the sides.

Ringo took off, running in a diagonal direction and Chido used one of his special tags to disappear in a poof of smoke. When everybody was in place we all lunged forward.

"Nice try," said the woman, laughing humorlessly. She put her arms straight out, palms facing in each side direction. Ringo moved too slowly I guess. Wind shot out and blew Ringo away. She moved her turned. One of her palms facing me. The other Chido.

Chido was blown away; I prepared and focused chakra into my feet to make me go higher as I jumped up. The wind did not sweep me away. The woman wasn't the least bit shocked and her palm followed me.

_"Gai! Today is the day I teach you your first technique!"_

_"Not _first_," I muttered._

_"Huh? Did you say something?"_

_"No dad."_

_"AH! You know better then to call me dad when we are TRAINING!"_

_"Sorry dad—I mean, Sensei," I corrected myself, I resisted the urge to roll my eyes._

_"Good," he said, ignoring the fact I had to correct myself. "Now, I am going to teach you a good technique."_

_"Is it the Ura Renge?" I asked in an excited voice. _(Ura Renge: Reverse Lotus, or, in my words, Lee's PMSing 8 Gates thingy move)

_"Uhm… no," he said awkwardly. My excitement died down. "I'm going to teach you OTHER moves though. Such as Omote Renge and Konoha Senpuu!"_

_"Oh, how wonderful…" I said sarcastically._

_"I know!"_

_"…"_

_"Wait… were you being sarcastic?"_

_"Yes."_

_"…Oh…THIS ISN'T SOMETHING TO JOKE ABOUT!" he punched me across the cheek, sending me flying. As soon as I sat up, he was in front of me._

_"I'm sorry, but you must take your ninja training seriously," he said, he hugged me._

_"Uhm… dad… I mean sensei?"_

_"Yes?"_

_"Don't hug me. Ever."_

_"Oh… uhm… sorry about that, I forgot. But ANYWAYS—"_

_"Dad—I mean, sensei, can I be honest?"_

_"OF COURSE!"_

_"I know Taijutsu is important in all but… I CAN use ninjutsu and Genjutsu," I said. My father stared blankly at me._

_"Well… what… what are you trying to say?" he asked, looking nervous._

_"I'm just saying that why should I just train in taijutsu when I could train in ninjutsu and genjutsu?"_

_"Oh. I see, that would make sense."_

_"So what I'm saying," I said slowly. "Is that maybe I should train on my own. And train in ninjutsu and genjutsu."_

_"Oh."_

_"But keep in mind Kameko's 8 now, the same age you started training with me. You should train with her. Especially since she can't use ninjutsu or genjutsu."_

_"Oh, right."_

_"So that's okay?"_

_"Oh, yeah, of course it is, but you must promise…"_

_"Promise what?"_

_"That you must excel greatly in ninjutsu and genjutsu. Promise it!"_

_"Okay, I promise—"_

_"DO THE NICE GUY POSE!"_

_"…"_

_"…"_

_"You're not… serious, right?"_

_"…Oh… yeah, I'm just joking," he said, looking at the floor._

_"Okay, but I promise," I said. I ran up the steps of the house but stopped in front of the door, I looked back nervously._

_"Dad?"_

_"Yeah?" he said, looking up at me, smiling._

_"You're okay with this, right?" I asked. He frowned. He then paused for a moment._

_"Yeah, of course I am!" he said, and he smiled again. But his voice wasn't as enthusiastic as it normally was._

I threw two shuriken at her. The wind came from her hand and blew it away. I landed on my feet, unaffected by the wind. She faced her palms at me but I reacted first. I kicked her high up in the air.

I've seen my father teach Kameko this technique a million times. I just hoped I could perform it correctly.

I jumped in the air.

"Kage Buyou (Leaf Shadow Dance)," I muttered. I was underneath my opponent, like her shadow. I just hoped I could do this right. I was prepared for my attack. I pinned her arms against her sides, to prevent her from getting her away. We started falling towards the ground.

"GAI!" I looked out of the corner of my eyes and saw Chido, Ringo and Akina staring wide eyed.

"OMOTE RENGE (Front Lotus)!"We began to spin downwards. Just before we hit the ground I let go and jumped away just in time. (RLN: I heard that you had to activate the first gate in order to do this, but I don't remember you having to do that. So I'm ignoring it.)

A mixture of dirt and dust clouds filled the area.

"Come on… please tell me I did it right…" I prayed. My worst nightmare came true when the smoke cleared and our opponent was standing.

"You're an annoying brat, aren't you?" she hissed. I realized I let go of her too early. With her cuts and bruises, it was obvious she hit the ground, just not as hard as I wanted.

"Now _that _was a badass move," Chido said, being the first to speak out of the three of them, gaping at the destruction I caused.

"Yeah, but I did it wrong," I muttered angrily.

"Well, you hit her," said Ringo, also gaping wide eyed.

"And it's a thousand times cooler and better then I could ever HOPE to do," Chido said.

I began to curse myself. If only I wasn't as stupid as a kid… if only I wasn't an idiot, I might've been able to perform that technique correctly. If I wasn't so disrespecting and rude to my father, I might've been able to defeat this mission already.

"Hey, what's with the face?" asked Chido, causing me to snap out of my thoughts. "We got to finish this mission."

"Right," I said, looking back at out opponent.

I find it strange, how one choice or one mistake could end up altering your life. In the end, I made this path. I chose to be independent and go my way.

_"Gai, you must remember that the most important thing in life is to live it full out!"_

_"I know, I know."_

_"Don't use that tone, it makes it seem like you DON'T want to hear about it."_

_I didn't._

_"No matter what comes at you, no matter what problems come in the way, you must go full out and overcome it!"_

_"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know."_

_"But this is about life entirely!" he exclaimed, ignoring me completely. "Not just your ninja career, but everything! You must go all the way when it comes to anything! You must give it, not 100 percent, but 110 percent."_

_"Whoopdeedoo, 10 percent more. Man you're embarrassing," I muttered, quiet enough so he didn't hear._

"What should we do?" asked Ringo.

"What do you think?" I asked. "We go full out."

"Eh?" asked Chido. "You've been freaking me out lately… are you sick?" I ignored him.

"We should give it 110 percent," I said. "We made a choice to fight these guys, if this is our path, then we should give it our best, no, better then our best, right?"

"Well, you certainly have changed, but for the better," said Ringo.

"Yeah, no more Mr. Depressing," joked Chido.

_Now I understand, Dad, _I thought to myself. _Now I get what you've been trying to teach me for so long._

End of Chapter

RLN: Dude. This reminds me so much of the filler stuff. But I wrote more then half of this BEFORE the fillers. The ending is soooooo cheesy. But I love cheesy endings. Anyways, hopefully the next chapter won't take forever.

On a second note…

WOOHOO! I'm a year older, my birthday was on Oct. 8th. XD

And on a third note…

20 AND A HALF FREAK'N PAGES! Damn. I hate long chapters. I hate writing long chapters anyways, and SOMETIMES I hate reading long chapters. Anyways, this is a record.

Sorry if the chapter seemed rushed though, I just really wanted to post it.


	6. Part 2: Uchiha Akimoto

RLN: Thanks for your reviews. Usually I get more, but that's okay. I think it's because I posted two chapters at once.

Also, in other news, out of all my stories, this one has the most words next to High School for Idiots. I find it surprising because High School for Idiots has 11 chapters while this only has 6.

Actually, now that I think about it, after I post this chapter this story could end up having more words then High School for Idiots.

And on a third note, I'd also like to say that I'm officially in love with the intro to episode 154 in the Naruto Anime Series. God, I've listened to it at least a million times. So I'm really looking forward to it when they get the whole song up for download. x)

Anyways, you don't care about my problems, so on to the chapter… AWAY!

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 2: Uchiha Akimoto_

_"A Rank mission?" Haruko asked, staring at me, her eyes very wide._

_"Yeah," was my simple answer._

_"Geez, are you going to be okay?"_

_"Haruko, I go on missions like these all the time."_

_"Oh. Right. Who's all going?"_

_"I haven't fully decided. I know I probably will take Hideaki, Jia Li and maybe—"_

_"WHAT?" she screamed._

_"What?" I stared blankly at her._

_"Jia Li's only a genin!" she exclaimed._

_"You're only a genin," I pointed out._

_"So? I ain't going on that A Rank mission."_

_"Why, afraid to break a nail?" I asked. Her eyes widened drastically._

_"Don't joke about stuff like that…" she said. I sweatdropped. She then went on, "If Jia Li can go on a mission like that, then why didn't you plan on taking me along?"_

_"What? You want to go?" I asked, staring at her blankly. Haruko always went about, saying how she absolutely detested missions._

_"Yes," she said._

_"No you don't. You just want to go so you can glare at Jia Li," I said, finally seeing through her._

_"That's not it!" she said. I stared at her and raised an eyebrow._

_"Then why do you want to go?"_

_"I want to improve my ninja skills!" she said, crossing her arms._

_"No you don't," I said. She glared at me._

_"I want to go on that mission, I really do."_

_"I know you want to go on that mission, but I know you don't want to go because you want to improve your ninja skills," I said. I stared at her and she looked at the floor avoiding eye contact. It hit me. "You know what the mission's about, don't you?"_

_"It's a rescue mission," she replied quietly._

_"You're not supposed to rummage through my stuff," I said, in a serious tone. She looked at me. Her eyes seemed darker then they usually were._

_"How do you do it Akimoto?" she asked quietly._

_"Do what?" I asked, confused._

_"This. Chido and Gai are your best friends and you're being sent on a rescue mission, yet you're so calm. How do you do that?"_

_"What's that supposed to mean?"_

_"I don't know. Its stuff like that that makes me wonder if it's really worth everything. I guess I don't believe the ninja philosophy, I can't believe it. I can't get rid of all my emotions."_

_"You want to go on the mission because Chido and Gai are in trouble?"_

_"…I guess."_

_"You barely know them."_

_"Yeah, but I still know them."_

_"You're weird," I said. She looked at me, shocked._

_"What makes you say that?"_

_"You just are," I told her. She looked back at the floor._

_"I guess… I kind of feel guilty too."_

_"Guilty?"_

_"When are we leaving for the mission?" she asked, completely ignoring my question._

_"About an hour."_

_"I'll get ready then."_

"Alright, everybody's here," I said, looking at everyone.

_"What type of mission?" the Aburame adjusted his sunglasses with his index finger._

_"A Rank, rescue mission," I replied._

_"A Rank?" he asked, his voice seeming more blunt, if that was possible._

_"Yes," I said._

_"I'm not so interested," he said. He turned around and walked away. That guy always pissed me off without even trying._

_"What's wrong, Hideaki?" I asked. My trick would defiantly lure him into doing this mission. "An A Rank too much for you to handle?"_

_He froze._

_"The only challenging ones are S Rank," he said. "You know I'll only do S Ranked missions."_

_"You're an ANBU, you'll have plenty of S Rank missions, but it's been quiet lately, just take an A Rank till an S one comes," I said. I was practically luring him like a steak would lure a dog._

_"Is it a fast one?"_

_"With your skills?" Yes, a little compliment would never go wrong. "It'll be so fast you'll forget it all by tomorrow."_

_"Fine."_

"In case of emergencies, we will have emergency groups. You know, in case we need to split up," I explained. "Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever, just don't put me on Haruko's team," Jia Li said.

"For once, I agree with Ms. Gloomy," said Haruko. The girls glared at each other out of the very corners of their eyes.

"Too late," I said.

"WHAT?" Haruko and Jia Li shrieked in unison. Actually, Jia Li's voice was more low and scary while Haruko's screeched.

"The groups will be in two. Jia Li, Haruko are group one, Hideaki and Gin in group two, and I'm alone on group three."

"I believe I'm more skilled then you are, shouldn't you be on Gin's team while I'm alone?" asked Hideaki.

_"OH AKIMOTO!" squealed a voice. I turned around to see a girl with long silvery blond hair running towards me._

_"Gin?"_

_"I couldn't help but overhear you talking to Hideaki about that mission!" she exclaimed. "Now how come Mr. Grumpy gets to go on that mission and I can't?" She faked a little pout, pretending to be cute._

_Oh god. What has the world come to?_

_"Honestly Gin, I didn't invite you on the mission earlier because—"_

_"EARLIER? So you WERE going to invite me?" her eyes lit up. I was about to protest but she hugged me._

_She's invading my space bubble. I don't like it when people invade my space bubble._

_"OH AKIMOTO!" she squealed, gathering attention from EVERYONE. The teenaged girls glared hatefully at Gin while the guys snickered and made remarks and children just laughed and pranced around saying I had a girlfriend._

_Kill me now. Please._

"Erm… no," I said, after having that flashback. "And you being stronger then me… that's just your opinion." Hideaki's eyebrows furrowed, but he didn't say anything back. Hideaki was never the type to talk back.

Actually, Hideaki was the type who almost never talked.

"The groups are uneven strength wise, you should be on a team," said Haruko, but I knew she was just saying that so she wouldn't have to be alone with Jia Li.

"Yeah Akimoto! You can be with me!" squealed Gin.

"I'm here too," Hideaki pointed out. Gin stared at him for a couple of seconds.

"Oh… uhm, right," she said, not really caring.

"Okay, Gin, go on Jia Li and Haruko's team and I'll go with Hideaki," I decided. Gin's smile faded quickly away.

I also felt killing intent. I looked at Haruko and Jia Li who were glaring at both me and Gin.

But mostly me, because I put Gin on their team.

"Hideaki and I are really skilled, we don't need as much strength," I said, trying my best not too sound whiny. Haruko was still giving me her I-am-so-going-to-get-you-back-for-this look, so I gave her my I-owe-you look, so she backed off. And yes, we have those looks that we understand perfectly.

"Alright, but keep in mind this is for when we _need_ to," I said.

"Fine," said Jia Li, with a small huff.

"In case you didn't know, this is a rescue mission," I said. Everybody was quiet. Haruko was looking at the floor and Jia Li just pretended she did care, but she was avoiding eye contact with everybody else.

"We know, now let's go!" exclaimed Gin in a cheery voice.

"This is nothing to be enthusiastic about," Jia Li spat at Gin, coldly. Her usually blank eyes seeming to change with hate as she glared at her.

"Aren't you Genin? You're not supposed to be here, leave it to the _ANBU_," said Gin.

"ANBU? Then why are you here?" asked Haruko, staring at Gin blankly.

"I happen to _be_ in the ANBU," said Gin, proud of herself.

"Only because the new ANBU captain likes you," said Hideaki, pushing up his sunglasses, sounding as if it was nothing.

"Oh be quiet Aburame!" snapped Gin.

"Insults from you mean nothing," said Hideaki, shrugging it off like it was nothing. "And call me Aburame again and I'll hurt you." Gin looked at me.

"Akimoto, aren't you going to stand up for me?" she asked, half whining.

_No_ I wanted to say.

"Guys, we need to start this mission," I said.

"Exactly!" said Gin, despite the fact I totally ignored her needs.

"Whatever," said Jia Li. I looked at her.

"You should probably lead the way, with your Byakugan," I told her.

"Right," she said. She concentrated a few moments before the veins appeared clearly through the sides of her eyes.

We all left.

The trip was quiet. Jia Li and I went ahead, since she was leading the way and I was the captain. We were traveling by jumping tree to tree. Even while running in the trees, their crowns still stood high above us.

Finally, Jia Li spoke.

"So what's with your number one fangirl?" she asked.

"She's nothing," I said. "We get put on the same ANBU squad and she suddenly think we're a couple."

"I see, and your comrades could care less?" she asked, looking back at me. I was going to tell her to pay attention but I remembered that she had her Byakugan.

"Hideaki thinks it's annoying but Yutaka teases me about it," I said. As soon as I said that Jia Li looked down at the floor.

"Is something wrong?" I asked. (RLN: For those of you had forgotten, Yutaka is Jia Li's fiancé)

"Nothing," she said. "So uhm… your team would be you, Gin, Hideaki and… uhm…"

"Yutaka?"

"Yeah."

"Oh," I said. I remembered Yutaka was a Hyuuga. "You know him?"

"Yes," she said, looking from the ground to looking forward.

"Is something wrong with him?" I asked, confused.

"No," she said. "I just never knew you guys were on the same ANBU squad. You guys close?"

"Not really, but we do talk to each other a lot," I said. I paused. "Why?"

"Uhm…" She was paused a bit. "So what's he like?"

"Don't you know him?"

"Barely, though," she said.

"He's okay, different from what I expected from most Hyuugas," I said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, still not looking at me.

"Well, there are a lot of Hyuugas in ANBU, and they're all either quiet or arrogant, and Yutaka's… he's kind of arrogant but… he's loud."

"Oh," she said.

"He's cool, you should get to know him." She didn't reply. She was quiet and that was the end of our conversation.

I checked behind to see how everyone was doing.

I saw Gin talking to what looked like a very irritated Hideaki, and Haruko, who didn't seem to be part of their conversation, also looked very irritated.

"I'm just saying, when you're a jerk, you should apologize!" cried Gin. Hideaki's eyebrow twitched.

"What should I apologize for?" he asked. "You're the one being loud and obnoxious, if you don't shut your trap, we won't be able to do this mission."

"What makes you so high and mighty?" Gin snapped. He looked at her.

He spoke in a voice so low and cold that it was scary. He said, "I wouldn't speak to someone in such a manner, especially if that person was a much higher rank then you could ever hope to be."

Gin seemed to stop talking to Hideaki after that.

I resisted the urge to laugh.

"About time she shut up," muttered Jia Li. "I was going to hit her if she didn't stop being annoying."

"She won't stay quiet for long though," I said. "Even Hideaki, scariest guy alive, can't shut her up for too long."

"Scariest guy alive? You're afraid of him?" Jia Li asked. I shook my head.

"Not afraid. But I do know he's one guy I'll never mess with." Jia Li looked at me, her eyebrow raised. She asked, "Is he that bad?"

"He's skilled," I admitted. She smirked.

"I thought you were the oh-so-great Uchiha, even if the guy's two years older then you, you shouldn't be freaked out about him."

"He's a lot different then he seems, you'll find out when you see him fight," I said. Her eyebrows furrowed. "If we fight that is," I added. She looked forward again.

"I think we're almost there," she said.

"How much is almost?"

"Less then half a mile."

"Guys," I said, looking at Hideaki, Haruko and Gin. Gin stopped annoying Haruko to look at me. "We're almost there, get prepared to—"

"What on…?" I heard Jia Li murmur. I looked at her. She stopped. Everybody else did the same.

"What's wrong?" asked Hideaki, in his serious tone.

"There are people, lots of people, grouped together not so far from here," Jia Li said.

"So?" said Gin. Everybody gave her a look.

"We have to check on them," said Jia Li, firmly.

"Do we have to split up in our groups?" asked Haruko.

"Depends," I told her. I looked at white eyed girl. "Are they far?"

"No, not at all. They're in hiding."

"Let's go then," I said. Jia Li jumped from the branch to the next. We all followed her lead. We seemed to go forward for some time, when suddenly she jumped from the branch to the ground. I was startled at first but got down on time.

"Follow," said Jia Li, but it was unnecessary. We trailed quickly behind as she turned to the left and ran off.

We all saw the people standing there. Jia Li slowed down and I went ahead to take the lead. We stepped in front of them.

"Who… who are you?" asked one of them.

"We're Konoha ninja," I explained. They looked relieved.

"So they really came through after all," said one.

"Thank goodness!" exclaimed a large woman. "I don't think I could've stayed hidden any longer!"

"Hidden?" asked Hideaki.

"Yes, ninja attacked our village!" said the large woman. "We were so frightened! But then those chuunin came and helped us!"

"Chuunin?" asked Haruko, looking at me. The rest of the squad looked at me as well.

"Do you know their names?" I asked, ignoring their glances.

"No, they left," said an old man, who had a gruff voice.

"Why?" asked Haruko.

"They went to fight off the ninja who attacked our village!" exclaimed the large woman again.

"What?" we all asked in unison.

"When did they leave?" Haruko cried out.

"Quite awhile ago, now that I think about it…" said the woman.

"Shit," I swore.

"What's wrong?" asked another woman, looking at us, eyes wide.

"You're not… going to leave us here, are you?" asked the larger woman.

"Of course not, we're going to take you to Konoha!" said Gin.

"We can't do that," said Hideaki. Gin glared at her, while Haruko, Jia Li and I looked at him. He went on, "Our mission is to rescue our ninja."

"We can't leave them!" exclaimed Haruko.

"We'll take them on the way back then," said Hideaki. I thought for a moment. Should we risk failing the mission by leaving a person here to guard them? No, I couldn't. I could leave Gin here, since she's the weakest, but Gin could never defend the villagers on her own. Even if she escorted them.

"Somebody has to stay and take the villagers back to Konoha," I said. It was quiet.

"I'll go."

We all looked at Haruko in unison.

"But Haruko, we need you here—"

"No, you don't, I'll just mess things up, and I'm not used to fighting in battle. I can take the villagers to Konoha, you guys can go ahead. I'm the best type for this type of thing," she said.

It was quiet for awhile. I thought hard.

"Fine go ahead," I said. Haruko nodded obediently. I looked at Jia Li. "Lead the way."

"Right," she said. She muttered 'Byakugan' and the veins appeared around her eyes once more. She leapt off into the trees, Hideaki then Gin followed afterwards. I got ready to leave but Haruko grabbed my arm, I looked at her.

"Save Chido and Gai, okay?" she said. I was a bit speechless, but I nodded. Haruko was usually selfish and didn't concern for other people. "And be careful okay?" I nodded again. She let go and I leapt into the trees, when I did, I saw Jia Li, Hideaki and Gin waiting.

"You guys didn't have to stop," I said.

"Akimoto," said Jia Li, in a firm voice. "I see them."

"You do?" I said. "Great, where are they?"

"They're in trouble, that's what," said Jia Li.

"What?" I asked, my voice sounding breathless.

"They're in a battle, that's what I mean. Chido doesn't look in shape right now; one chuunin's got low chakra; and Gai looks worn out. They also have another girl with them that doesn't seem like a ninja," she explained.

"Let's go then—"

"That's not all," said Hideaki, cutting me off. "Jia Li also spotted a missing nin off in the northeast."

"Great," I said sarcastically.

"What should we do?" asked Jia Li.

"We'll split in our groups. Hideaki and I will go after the missing nin, you and Gin will help Chido and Gai."

"Not such a bright idea," said Jia Li. "The missing nin is far away, you won't get there without specific direction."

I knew she just didn't want to be with Gin, but she had a point.

"No," said Hideaki. "I'm skilled when it comes to tracking down the enemy. My bugs will know."

"Oh, right," said Jia Li. You could tell she really wasn't looking forward to working with Gin.

"Alright, let's hurry up!" I said. Everyone obeyed and scurried off.

Hideaki and I moved quickly and silently. Branches and leaves were a blur as we ran past. However, our speed got the better of us; we were too quick and hasty to remember to be careful. Hideaki seemed to notice the same time as me. A trap lifted me up as another lifted up Hideaki. It was the simple 'step on the rope and the rope will go around your leg and drag you up' thing. So we were hanging upside down. Before Hideaki or I could grab a kunai and cut ourselves down, kunai and shuriken shut out from every direction and towards us. A simple trap combined with a bigger one.

Unless you've ever been in a situation like this, you really have no idea how hard it is dodging dozens of flying kunai and shuriken while hanging upside down.

A kunai finally slashed a part of my rope. It didn't cut it completely, but I fell because of my weight. I pulled out a kunai and was knocking any other kunai coming at me. I was so busy I couldn't find a chance to see if Hideaki was okay.

I blocked one kunai and another was heading right towards me, but a shuriken knocked it out of the way.

Not all my blocks were exactly successful; I definately got cut a lot of times. After my arms wore out and my legs were scratched up, the trap came to an end. I turned my head, and my eyes widened.

Hideaki wasn't scratched. At all. I mean, I had a couple of cuts, not a lot, but a couple, but he was completely unscathed.

"How…?" I trailed off.

"What?" he asked.

"You're not even scratched," I stated.

"I have multiple eyes," he said. He then went ahead and left, so I had to follow. I didn't quite understand what he meant by that until I remembered he was an Aburame who had bugs who could tell him practically everything.

"We have to be careful now. They know were coming this way, I'm assuming," I said.

"Either that or they don't want anybody coming this way," Hideaki replied. We went by, carefully now. The scars burned a bit as I moved, but I ignored it. I looked at Hideaki and asked him how far we would have to go.

Hideaki didn't reply, but he held out an arm forward, bugs crawled out (even though I was supposed to be used to it by now, it freaked me out nonetheless) and flew forward way ahead of us. It was silent for a few moments, but Hideaki stopped so I did the same.

He held out his arm and moments later a group of bugs came by and flew into his sleeve.

I really had to get used to that.

He looked in a direction so I focused at it too.

"That way," he said, unnecessarily. He went off in that direction quietly and I followed.

After awhile, Hideaki stopped sprinting and slowed down to walking. I could tell we were close by how careful he was acting. We walked silently through the branches. I traced his path and followed him as if I was his shadow, so I wouldn't mess up.

Then, his arm came out to stop me, I froze in my tracks, he made a jerking head motion and I looked at the direction he was indicating. I looked down and a bit further away, on the ground there were two men.

"You think Juro will find them?" asked one man, his voice was gruff and he looked rather large and strong.

"You dumb, Ishi?" asked the second man, who was a total opposite of the strong guy. He was tall, skinny and his voice was rather croaky. "Juro's an idiot. He's not coming for a LONG time."

"Don't call me dumb, Samuru, I'm a lot more intelligent then you are," said the big guy, Ishi.

"Yeah, _right_," said the skinny guy, Samuru. He then rubbed the back of his long neck. "Not to mention Kaida's been gone for awhile too. What the hell is taking her so long?"

"Think she ran into trouble?" asked Ishi.

"Not likely," said Samuru. "Nobody strong anyways."

_Find them? What are these guys talking about? _I thought to myself. _Maybe the villagers?_

It was confusing to see a way on why they would be after the villagers. They were poor and weak. They couldn't seem to want them for anything.

"Samuru," said Ishi, looking at his partner. Samuru looked at the large man.

"What?" he hissed.

"You've been training? I sense a lot more chakra," said Ishi. Hideaki and I tensed up. But to our relief, Samuru just glared at Ishi and called him stupid. Ishi protested though. "I swear I sense something!"

"Sure you do!" Samuru said sarcastically, he then added, "You're an idiot!"

"…" Ishi didn't say anything; he just glared at Samuru with dark eyes. Samuru just made an irritated noise and looked away, arms crossed. Then, Ishi threw two of his kunai towards Hideaki and I. Hideaki and I jumped down in unison.

"Huh?" said Samuru, clearly surprised.

"I told you," snorted Ishi.

"Idiot! I knew they were there all along!" said Samuru, but it didn't take a genius to tell he was fibbing.

"I thought the fat guys were supposed to be stupid," I said, my hand reaching up and gripping the katana attached to the back of my vest. (RLN: ANBU have katana, in case you didn't remember or didn't know)

"We'll crush you no problem," said Ishi, fists clenched by each side. He slammed his fist into the earth with such force, it would match Haruko's, Tsunade's or my mother's super strength.

The ground crumbled and shook and tree branches fell from their spots. It was like an earthquake.

I unsheathed my katana and gripped it tightly. Focusing my chakra into my feet, I used it to make me jump higher as I leapt up. Samuru, threw multiple kunai at me, I blocked them all off with my katana, I landed it front of Samuru. Too slow to dodge my attack; he held up his arms in defense to block the slash of my blade and blood dripped down from his arms.

He leaped backwards; he slipped out a kunai from his pouch. I glanced in the corner of my eyes and saw Ishi trying his best to block all of Hideaki's punches and kicks.

I focused my attention back on the tall skinny man, his kunai was between his teeth and he ran towards me, performing his hand seals.

_Nice try, _I thought, as I focused my chakra into my eyes, the vision changed completely as my eyes turned from black to red.

I read his moves. Ninjutsu. I focused more, my eyebrows furrowed as I concentrated. I nearly laughed when I realized it was nothing but a substitution. I carelessly threw my kunai at him and he was replaced with a log after a poof of smoke. I easily predicted his move and ducked, avoiding the slash of his kunai when he appeared behind me. I swooped my leg at his feet and he easily fell backwards onto the floor.

Before I could make the finishing blow, the ground shook and I saw a crack in the ground, growing longer, deeper and wider; the mixture of dirt, grass and pebbles fell in it. I ran backwards, avoiding falling in the hole.

It went towards me. It was obvious it was a ninjutsu move.

I looked and saw Ishi, his palm on the floor. Before he could do anything else, Hideaki knocked him backwards by a tackle.

Ishi got up, but as soon as he did, Hideaki placed both hands on the floor.

Bugs appeared at Ishi's feet, they were eating his chakra and he couldn't move his legs and feet.

I looked back at Samuru who leaped over the deep crack in the ground. As quickly as I could, I knocked a flying shuriken out of my way. He landed on the floor in front of me, he struck with his kunai and I blocked it with my katana. He put as much strength in the tiny kunai as much as I put in my sword.

"We have equal strength it seems," said Samuru, staring intently at the blade against blade. "Same reactions, same speed, we seem to be equal."

"You wish," I snorted. The blades separated away from each other and we both stared at each other with such intensity.

"Getting a bit cocky? Don't let your emotions get in the way, isn't that what you were taught?" asked Samuru, our weapons clashed into each other once again.

"Actually," I said. "I was taught the total opposite."

_"Akimoto, what in the world are you doing up there?" she shrieked. Her face filled with anger and fear._

_"A ninja must rid of themselves of all emotion," I said, looking down from the roof. "If I can get rid of my fear, I should be a great ninja."_

_"You're six years old! You shouldn't be worrying about that type of stuff!" she snapped. Her emerald eyes wide and round showed she was afraid. "Now get down from there!"_

_"I'm afraid," I said._

_"Then get down!" she screamed._

_"That's not it. I'm afraid; I should stay up here until it's gone. If you fall off a roof, you could die, right?"_

_"AKIMOTO! GET DOWN!" she screamed. I sighed heavily. She just didn't get her._

_"Fine," I said. I turned around, ready to walk back to the attic window. Suddenly, I slipped._

_"AKIMOTO!"_

_I was caught before I hit the floor. I was breathing heavily; I looked up to see my savior._

_It was him._

"Oh really? An ANBU is supposedly perfect though. That meaning following all ninja policies."

"Getting rid of all emotions is a philosophy to becoming the perfect ninja, it is not a policy. You can't erase any emotions, even fear."

_"WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING?" I flinched at the tone of his voice. He was usually quiet and calm, he rarely yelled._

_I saw Kyoshi and Haruko staring at him, eyes round and wide. Kyoshi even started crying from fear._

_I was ashamed of myself, but didn't cry. I always wanted to be a strong ninja, ninja didn't cry._

_Especially if their dad was yelling at them. That was a stupid reason to cry._

"I'm a lot stronger then you could hope to be," I said. "I didn't get into ANBU for nothing."

"And I didn't become a missing nin for nothing."

_"Akimoto," I looked at her, not getting up from my spot on the stairs. She smiled softly. "You don't have to try so hard."_

_"Try so hard?"_

_"Mm-hmm," she said, nodding. She sat down next to me, she folded her hands gracefully on her lap. She looked at me. "You want to be a good ninja, but you don't need to work so hard. Relax."_

_She made it sound so easy. She tucked her very short hair behind her ear._

_"Why do you want to try so hard? Trying to get rid of fear and everything," she said._

_"That's what I'm supposed to do, right?"_

_"By going on a roof? No Akimoto, you're not supposed to do that," she said._

_"I'm afraid of heights," I admitted. "That's the only thing I'm afraid of. If I can get over that, I'll be done with fear. A ninja must get rid of emotions. Fear's an emotion, right?"_

_"In a way, yes," she said. She wrapped her arms around me into a hug. "You know what I think of the 'getting rid of emotions thing'?"_

_"What?" I asked._

_"I think it's nonsense," she said. "The Hokage shows emotions, doesn't he? I show emotions, right? And I'm a ninja. And your father does, doesn't he?"_

_"He sure does," I snorted, remembering the way he yelled at me. She laughed and held me closer._

_"Don't believe in that junk," she said quietly._

_"That's what everyone teaches us though," I said._

_"Trust me," she said. "You won't get far in life by following the handbook."_

_It was quiet yet peaceful for a while. Suddenly, she stood up; I looked and saw a familiar family. The family consisted of five. The dad was carrying two blond children on his shoulders and the mother was walking with a dark haired little girl following closely behind._

_"Ino!" she exclaimed, running down the steps, leaving me behind. Ino held out her arms out and grinned._

_"Sakura!" she said, in an equally happy voice._

_"Ino—"started a man._

_"Be quiet Shikamaru! Can't you see I'm talking?"_

_"But Ino—"he stopped when a little girl who was sitting on his shoulder pulled on his earring. "—CUT THAT OUT!" a little boy, who was the little girl's twin, was sitting on his other shoulder. He pulled on his father's feather duster ponytail. "WILL YOU… INO!"_

_"Will you children cut that out? And by children, I mean all three of you!" snapped Ino, glaring at her twins as well as her husband._

_"But… they started it," said Shikamaru, half whining._

_"I DON'T CARE WHO STARTED IT! I'LL FINISH IT!"_

_"Geez, how annoying," muttered the little girl with dark hair._

_"Be quiet, Mioshi," said Ino, but her voice was calm. Ino and Shikamaru continued yelling at each other and my mother looked up and smiled at me. I didn't smile back; I just walked back quietly into the house. Unnoticed by the Nara family._

"Don't try and impress yourself," I said to him. "You're still a low class loser compared to me."

"Whatever you say, sir," he said, trying his best to mock my title. I couldn't let my anger get ahead of me.

You're still wrong, mom. Emotions are unneeded to become a strong ninja.

_"Here you go, this is your uniform," the ANBU captain handed over the gray and blue outfit, a mask in the shape of a dragon set upon the top._

_"Thank you," I said, this was less then I expected, I thought there would be banners and trumpets and all that junk. I took the uniform and headed out the door. He stopped me before I could get out._

_"Keep in mind," he said, "that being part of ANBU, or being a ninja over all, isn't easy. It's hard. Comrades may go as quickly as they came. Emotions and life are at stake."_

_"Yes, I know," I said._

_"I know you're still young," he continued. "But never plan on falling in love; it'll be a pain in the ass. You may have to give your life on a mission. You have to be dedicated to the mission and not be tied down to anything that might get in the way."_

_"Yes sir," I said, without hesitation._

It was after that. It was shortly after that I got sent on a mission. Everyone in my family was upset I was going.

_"So this is what it's going to be like, huh?" said my mother. I looked up from packing at looked at her._

_"What?" I said confused._

_"You're going away on a mission already, a dangerous one," she said, smiling, but her eyes showed a hint of sadness. She looked at the floor, as if ashamed that she was sad._

_"What? You don't want me to be a ninja or something?" I asked._

_"No, that's not it," she said quietly, she looked up, small tears streaming down her face. "I just don't think we'll be able to spend as much times together as we used to."_

Everyone was quiet. Even Haruko.

_"Scared?" he asked._

_"Truthfully? Yes," I said._

_"Makes sense," he said. His voice was quiet, and he didn't look at me. He just leaned against the wall, arms crossed. "Aren't you too young to do something as dangerous as this?"_

_"I'm young dad, but I'm not an immature little kid. Not anymore."_

_"Hn."_

This mission reminds me so much of that mission. It was also a rescue mission. My first mission as ANBU.

At the time, it was nearing an end of a war that was between the fire country and the earth country that was created because the earth leader was threatened that the Hokage's inner demon would take over.

There was a specific part of Konoha that was taken over by earth ninja. They had a hostage. Anybody who came near the area would mean the death of the hostage.

The hostage was a brother to one of the members in the ANBU. He begged to be put in charge of the mission and the captain gave in and finally allowed it.

We were supposed to sneak attack, but we were caught. The ninja holding the hostage threatened to kill the man.

The hostage's brother was too startled to do anything, as he forced us to retreat. But they wouldn't let us go easily and tried to attack us.

It was one of the most gruesome battles I ever fought. And it was so scary that I froze up and couldn't do anything. I remember it all.

I was standing there. Frozen with fear. I didn't move, I couldn't move. Then blood was sprayed and I fell on the floor. Everything was beginning to disappear and everything went dark.

I woke up in the hospital and blood was all over the white sheets. _My_ blood was all over the white sheets. I could've died. I would've died there. Even in the hospital there was too much blood spilt to do anything, and they had to bring my mother in to heal me. She was more scared then I was.

The hostage was killed. The ANBU leader (who's now retired) fired the squad captain. He was never allowed to be a ninja again, because emotions got in the way.

Everyone says how terrible it is to just drop your emotions, but they have no idea how crucial it was to do so. I knew this and tried to get rid of fear and emotions, and then for a short time, after my mother told me it was nonsense, I stopped believing it. And then that mission happened.

My mother told me that her love for me saved and healed me. But if love was what hurt me in the first place, then love couldn't be good at all.

I'm not the only one. Not at all, who thinks this way. Every true ninja searches fro the reason of ninja.

I haven't decided yet. Now I'm on a rescue mission, with my two close friends on the line. I can't say it's easy, because it's not. It most certainly isn't.

I am the leader of this mission. And I hope, I really hope, that my missions won't get in the way. Just like it did that one day.

The day I transformed into a real ninja. A confused but true ninja. And hopefully, a ninja who will never have to worry about things like that, things like love.

End of Chapter

RLN: I wanted to use Akimoto to express what a ninja might feel everyday. Lost or sure of themselves. To people like Akimoto, are lost.

I think part 2 expresses that one little thing you do, might change the course of your path.

If Jia Li didn't let her anger get in the way after the Haruko incident, she wouldn't have been training like crazy to end up being told her work will result in nothing.

If Gai didn't let his embarrassment from his dad get in the way, he'd be kicking major ass and would never have to be rescued.

If Akimoto didn't let his need to strive for being a strong ninja get in the way, maybe he'd never have to think about the question of love.

Speaking of love, unfortunately for Akimoto, there will be pairings.

What are they you ask?

You really want to know?

Really, really want to know?

Then you'll have to wait for them to happen. XD I know what they are, but you don't. (Enter evil laugh here)

And yes, I will try to make every part have a moral to it and I'll explain it.

Part 3: Jia Li coming up next!

P.S. Also, keep a heads up for subchapters. What are these subchapters you ask? Subchapters will be chapters that reflect from a different person's point of view. Like, instead of Jia Li, Gai or Akimoto, I could have a subchapter with Chido, Akina, Haruko, Hideaki or Yutaka.

So you ask: Why won't you make a chapter with ALL the characters instead of just Jia Li, Akimoto and Gai?

So I answer: Because the story revolves around Jia Li, Akimoto and Gai. Although the other characters are important, these are the main characters.

Please review! (Omg. That was the longest author's note EVER)


	7. Part 3: Jia Li

RLN: I would also like to point out that fillers will be alive until spring 2006. Although I'm a bit pissed that Kakashi, Rin and Obito won't appear until spring, I really could care less about the fillers. After they made Tenten kick ass, I was a bit cheerier. Speaking of Tenten, here's her daughter.

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 3: Jia Li_

I wanted to hit her. She just wouldn't shut up. I really want to sneak attack on our opponent but she kept questioning everything I did, because I was a genin and she was an ANBU.

I'm pretty famous around the village for my skills; everyone knew I was on jounin level and that I was genin for stupid reasons.

If anybody deserved that ANBU mask hanging around her neck, it was me. Not her.

And for some strange unknown reason, she managed to bring my looks into the matter of ninja business. She said I had a flat chest and I was short, and that putting my hair in two buns made me look like a little kid. She said my hair was too dark and lighter colored hair was 'in'. (RLN: I like darker hair, personally)

She acted as if I cared. But I don't. Except for the whole hair thing, I usually didn't care about my looks, but my hair was the only thing I was proud of. It was thick, straight, long and had a nice shine to it; and for her to go around and saying that my hair was terrible just wanted to make me slap her hard across the cheek. Although she was in ANBU, Akimoto and the Aburame guy, Hideaki? Well, they both made it seem like Gin's a weak person; and I was beginning to believe it.

She was making me more pissed off then I already was. I ignored her and tried to think of other things like my conversation with Akimoto. After thinking over about my conversation with Akimoto, I feel like slapping myself over and over again. I swear I say the stupidest things. 'Oh sure I know Yutaka, he's my fiancé, that's why I'm curious as to how the hell he acts'! God, I should've just told him so he wouldn't be so confused. That was my second conversation with him and both times I acted like a total idiot. Although I particularly enjoyed pissing him off in my perfect throwing techniques, since he's an Uchiha and I'm a Hyuuga (who are so much better then the Uchiha clan). But why do I care so much? He's just an idiot who can't throw straight.

But that's not all that was pissing me off. It was Gai and Chido. What the hell? They became chuunin for a reason and now they're in trouble and I have to save their lazy asses. Puh-lease, I'm a genin and I can take their opponent in no time at all.

God. Will she _ever_ shut up?

"Not to mention I should be partners with Akimoto. Not a weak-o genin like you. Akimoto is a better leader then you are," Gin said, with a little scoff.

"I don't care," I snorted, although I wanted to say something more along the lines of 'I make such a better leader then that damn Uchiha'. Which I did by the way. Because Hyuugas are much more superior then Uchihas. They didn't get wiped out by a single teenager.

I noticed we were getting closer. Either that or my eyes were fooling me. When you're able to look farther away it's hard to tell if it's real close or still really far away. That's one of the Byakugan's few flaws.

"I wish Akimoto—"

"Was here. I know, you told me at least a thousand times," I said, really wanting to slap her more then ever. She tucked a piece of her light blond hair behind her ear and glared at me with her pale blue eyes, but she said nothing back.

"Well, then what about that Hideaki guy, huh? Isn't he a weirdo?" she said, acting as if she was gossiping to her best friend. "He's an Aburame. Did you know Aburames have BUGS in their BODIES? How gross is that?"

"Did you also know that the Aburame clan happens to be one of Konoha's strongest clans? And the best insect using clan in the world? Did you also know that some of the most intelligent people come from their clan?" I said, taking the bitterness out of my words as best as I could. She glared at me.

"Are you actually defending those bug freaks? They NEVER talk, did you ever notice that? Not to mention their clothes are SO out of style. I'm surprised their clan even exists. I'd expect everyone to run away from them, letting their clan go extinct," she said, despite that I just totally told her off.

"Sometimes the prettiest jewel comes from the dirtiest place," I said.

"What do jewels and dirty places have to do with anything I'm talking about?" she said, with a half scoff half huff.

"It _means_," I said, getting irritated. "That despite the bad things are on the outside, they can be wonderful in the inside."

"THEY HAVE _BUGS_ ON THE INSIDE!"

"_I don't care if they have **slugs **in the inside!_" I snapped, unable to resist my anger and fury any longer.

"Well, they're still Anti-Social freaks," she said, ignoring my fury once again. "I don't think I've ever heard Hideaki say something, something decent anyways. He's always such an asshole to me. Like I care what he says. He's just a freak, and whenever I tell him that, he always snaps at me."

"Imagine that," I said sarcastically. She didn't seem to notice. I should know better by now.

"Sometimes I wonder how I can work with that guy. He's such an asshole. He never talks, and when he does, it's always something bitter and rude."

"Just because he doesn't pointlessly blab like you do, doesn't mean he's anti-social," I said, glaring at her out of the corner of my eyes. She shrugged and said that the only reason why I thought that was because I never really worked with him.

"And can you _please _deactivate your Byakugan?" she said, the volume in her voice raising, despite we were getting closer to the enemy. "I mean it's freaky, watching those veins next to your eyes… it's scary and wrong!"

I desperately wanted to tell her to shut her mouth, but I didn't, we were getting close. I saw Gin getting ready to blab and rant again but shut her mouth. We both heard the sounds of battle. We both slowed down and saw my former teammates, a chuunin, and a girl fighting a losing battle against a powerful kunoichi.

Gai seemed to be the only one fighting against her at the moment. He threw two shuriken at her from the air and a force of wind came from the palm of the Kunoichi's left hand and blew it away. However, Gai landed on his feet in front of her. He kicked her and she was sent flying on the air, anyone could predict that she would fall on her back, but Gai had something else in mind. He jumped in the air and was underneath her, acting as if he was her.

He used his hands to pin her arm against her body, they then began falling downwards.

**_WHAT THE HELL? _**I roared in my mind, straining myself to shout it aloud. **_IS THIS SOME DAMN SUICIDE ATTACK, GAI?_**

"GAI!" I heard Chido's voice, clearly thinking the same thing as I had. Gai ignored him. My anger brought more focus into my Byakugan. I looked closer.

Was he…

Smirking?

He opened his mouth.

"OMOTE RENGE!" he roared. They spun around, first steady then getting faster.

And faster.

And faster.

By now, they seemed to look like nothing but a blur. They spun faster and faster, and then my eye caught something nobody else's did. He let go just before they would hit the ground and the crash made the dust clouds.

I never saw that. When on earth did he learn a move like that?

If I was an average person, I would've jumped up in joy and cheered for him.

But I wasn't, and I didn't. She wasn't dead. She was wounded, but not dead.

He was standing with everyone else now and their worst nightmare continued when their opponent still stood in front of them.

Gai and the others exchanged a share of words, and then they all faced boldly towards their opponent.

_Why? _I thought.

I wanted to jump in, but there was no opening, I had to wait or I'd get killed.

The Chuunin made the first move by running a curved path, throwing kunai after shuriken after kunai and so on. Their opponent blew away every weapon one at a time. Chido made his mover then, jumping in the air and throwing some elemental tags. One of her hands blew them away while the other blew away all of the chuunin's weapons.

Chido's elementals tags burst into flames as soon as they made contact with the harsh wind. The tags were ash before they hit the ground. Chido ran forward, one tag in hand. Their opponent leaped high in the air and Chido skidded to a stop. The chuunin didn't. He threw kunai at her while she was in the air.

I saw her chakra points in her hands glowing powerfully. There was a lot of chakra being focused, more then she averagely used in the fight. She'd make a blast so powerful everything would be destroyed.

I had enough. I knocked Gin, who was staring blankly at the match, off the tree; she was shocked but managed to land on her feet. That brought everyone's attention towards her, then the tree, then me.

The opponent was shocked but recovered quickly; she pointed the palms of her hands toward me. There was no way to block, the force started out small then got wider and wider till it was to far out to run away. I wanted to use Kaiten, hoping that maybe, just maybe, I'd get out alive, but I wouldn't be able to start it up in time, so I used my last and probably on resort.

I stood there and waited.

Then the force sent me flying backwards. My long bangs whipped my face and my heart was racing so quickly that I wouldn't be surprised that if the veins that were visible next to my eyes were beating very fast and quickly. I lost my concentration and everything that was visible around me was gone with the exception of what was in front of me, the sudden loss in the field of vision was making my mind spin a bit. I could feel the adrenaline spreading out quickly in my body and I was in panic. The wind whipped hard at me that I was in shock that I had no scars. It was like being in an average wind storm and then having the force multiplied.

My eyes were closed and I couldn't open them or my eyes would burn from the whipping winds. I felt the branches that I flew past scratch my arms that were held up in my defense. I was rushing so quickly that I felt cold wind hitting my back.

I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. I had to do my best to concentrate. It took me three times to attempt to activate my Byakugan before I got it, because the pain of the branches and the whipping of the rushing air by me kept destroying my attempts.

Once I finally got it activated, my eyes squinted; but that was more then enough. There was a large, odd shaped branch behind me and near the right, I if could grab it…

I closed in on it, I was getting closer. I reached out in attempt to grab it, but then, a large flying branch struck my arm, and normally I'd fall, but the wind was still going and still pushing. I concentrated hard and looked for the next thing I could grab.

There!

I wrapped my arms around a trunk of a tree and held on. After moments of waiting, the wind passed and the chaos around me died down.

"Okay," I growled under my breath. "That bitch is so going down," I promised. I focused my chakra into my feet and climbed up to a tree and set myself straight on a branch. Pulling the tangled leaves and twigs in my hair, my two buns were beginning to get loose and were falling apart, and I silently vowed to make sure she was killed. Grabbing one of my many scrolls from my belt, I leapt off towards the action. I was running towards a battle. How strange.

I flew over the branches of the tree and the strands of hair that was loose whipped my face until I had to tuck them behind my ears. I was gripping tightly on the scroll, making sure it would never fall into the deep world below me. I landed on the last branch and saw that same bitch messing up the area.

Now I had my proof Gin was weak. She did absolutely nothing and Chido and the chuunin were doing everything. Gai was pretty much too worn out to do anything and would sometimes attempt to do something but stop himself. Well, at least he's not a troublemaking airhead like when I last saw him.

I wiped some blood that was on my upper forearm near my shoulder and wiped it on the seal of my scroll. The deep red ribbon that tied it together was like a lock, it unraveled by itself that it was like magic. It floated down to the surface below me. I waited for a moment, for the perfect opening. I couldn't help but look at the scratch on my arm, the scratch where I took my blood from.

Wow. I really was an idiot; I should've waited for an opening before recklessly making a move like that. I should've attacked or something instead, where I at least had a chance. But instead I pushed Gin off the tree, which could've well broken her leg in two. Why did I do such a stupid thing? Sure. Everybody else was safe, but my move was reckless and I could've killed myself, and nobody else was in shape to fight, and the ones who were okay, that girl and Gin; couldn't fight.

If I died, they would've died just as well.

I'm such an idiot. I could've ruined this mission once and for all. I don't even remember what I was thinking; despite it was just seconds ago. Maybe because I panicked? Maybe because I was under pressure? Or maybe I just wanted to save them…?

But that didn't matter now. I had to ask these questions later. I held my scroll tight in my hand. This scroll was one of my mother's, who used it in case she couldn't throw out kunai and shuriken fast enough, but she used it only when she could have complete control over it, because sometimes, if you use it in a rush, you could end up making it backfire. I had to be careful.

Suddenly, the bitch used her wind and knocked that chuunin over. He fell to the ground. He tried to get up but she just knocked the guy over by giving a hard kick to his stomach. Her foot pressed hard against his back, pushing him into the ground.

My blood boiled. The damn bitch wouldn't even give the guy enough dignity to stand up and give a shot to fight back. The veins my eyes pumped faster and I felt my eyebrows furrow. All of them were trying so hard.

I hated Gin for just standing there doing nothing.

I hated Gai for failing his technique and wearing himself out if he knew he couldn't do it.

But above all, I hated that bitch.

I put the scroll at arms length in front of me, I opened it and out shot a stream of weapons, flowing out like a river, all covered by what looked like a dragon formed of smoke. The dragon hid the furious weapons flying. The dragon just didn't serve as a disguise. It served as an intimidation and a shield for the weapons.

Even if this bitch blew away the dragon, the weapons would still go. If she didn't blow away the dragon, she'd be hit by a combination of chakra and weapons.

The dragon wasn't really smoke; it was just a strange chakra. My mother made up this technique as a step down from her Soushoryuu (Rising Twin Dragons).

She looked and saw the dragon. She just laughed, having no idea she was really just laughing at her death. She put out the palm of her hand and blew the chakra smoke away. Her eyes widened. If I had super strong ears as well as my eyes, I would've heard her gasp. Her mouth was still shaped like an 'o'. The weapons scratched her and some shuriken stabbed her, to my displeasure, in no vital areas. But then it happened.

A kunai stabbed the center of her palm.

She fell to the ground on her knees, screaming in agony. The chuunin struggled to stand up and then backed away, and all eyes (with the exception of the bitch's) watched me as I hopped down. Their heads followed me as I boldly walked up to the woman. She looked at me, despite she was still whimpering in pain.

I glared down at her. My eyes squinting and my eyebrows furrowing further.

I felt the intense looks of everyone and you could cut the tension with a knife. The veins next to my eyes disappeared, but my eyes never lost its menacing look. She stared at me, her eyes widened, her face white, but she never let go off gripping the hand that was in so much pain for her. Everyone was quiet. Everyone was trying to predict my next move. Then I spoke.

"Stand up."

Everyone was looking shocked, but nobody looked more shocked then she did. My eyebrows furrowed deeper.

"I said stand up. Unlike you, I won't be cheap and disrespectful to those who can't stand. Stand up so I can kill you."

Everyone was silent still, and their faces even more shocked, if possible. She didn't stand up. She was facing her fear. The fury in me burned and my blood boiled, but she eventually stood up, struggling so she could do so. She grabbed the handle of the kunai. The kunai had gone straight through the palm of her hand and through the back of her hand.

"You won't kill me!" she hissed, but it was so quiet and her words were unsteady.

"You will die either way."

"What?" she said, in a shaky breath.

"That's why I deactivated my Byakugan. That kunai just didn't rip through skin; it ripped through veins and bone. You will die."

The room was quiet and my heart was thumping loudly against my flat chest. She was staring at me. Her round face growing paler and paler.

I held out my hand in front of her face, palm facing her.

"I'm sorry, but I will not allow you to die this way," I said quietly. She looked at the floor, but nodded.

I focused my chakra into my hand. My heart thumping hard and my breaths growing heavier and heavier. She was my enemy and I had to kill her. Despite no matter the heavy task. I killed her, the least I could do was make her go peacefully.

I struck her where her lungs were with my Jyuuken strike. The organ stopped and she fell backwards and onto the ground. I bent down and pulled the kunai from her lifeless hand, slowly; despite she would feel no pain. I placed my other hand over her open, lifeless eyes. I couldn't help her close her eyes with the hand I killed her with. I pulled down on her eyelids and her eyes were closed.

No matter what, a kill is not easy. I stood up slowly and let her lay there.

"Haruko is leading the villagers to Konoha. You guys follow them," I said, after what seemed like the longest silence, but I didn't dare to say anything. Chido was the first one bold enough to speak.

"Where will you go?" he asked. His voice unsteady and quiet.

"I will catch up with Akimoto and Hideaki," I explained. "Catch up with Haruko, okay?"

"Right," said the chuunin quietly, and they all jogged off, Gin hesitated, but went with them.

I stared down at my first kill before I ran off into the darkness in the forest, to find Akimoto and Hideaki. My blood sang through the veins around my eyes.

End of Chapter

RLN: Okay. This chapter was rushed at the end, but still,I seriously felt like crying during this chapter, especially since I was listening to this really sad song. Please review.


	8. Part 3: Rock Gai

RLN: Oh. My. God. This chapter took forever to write. I hope it's worth it.

I'd also like to proudly announce that my last chapter had more reviews then any of the others and I greatly appreciate them.

Also, a person asked how old Akimoto was. Akimoto, Jia Li, Chido, Gai and Akina are all 15. Gin is 16. Haruko is 14. Hideaki and Yutaka are 17. Ringo is an older adult whose age I haven't decided but his age is probably in the late 20s or early 30s.

Yay! My fellow Jia Li fans! Jia Li is my favorite character to write as because her personality is so… heehee. Glad you guys are beginning to like her.

Ah. And here is Gai's (Version 2.0's) chapter.

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 3: Rock Gai_

When you are running towards a battle, in some ways, you think you are running towards death. I am no psychic, but I'm sure any ninja would give anything to run away from a battle then towards it. Konoha is one of the most powerful and noble ninja nations, and being cowardly is not an option. The second Hokage, when at war, would often allow his ANBU captains to kill off his fellow comrades if they tried running away like a dog with their tail between their legs. Frankly, I'm not sure if I agree with the Second Hokage's ways or if I agree with those chickens.

Jia Li had to kill somebody today; I just hope I don't have to do the same. I'm not exactly the killing-with-ease type of guy. I'm going to be honest and say I'm not a saint or a brave guy. I'm not a hero; I'm just Gai, Rock Gai. The person who messed up our first chuunin exam and got the death glare of hate from Jia Li. I'm friends with Chido, the guy who can't stop joking and fooling around.

I'm not a killer. I don't think I could ever be one. But that's what ninja are, right? Killers. Sure, most ninjas fight for their country though. We're not mindless mercenaries.

At least that's what I thought.

I can't guarantee there will be a battle, but the chances seem high. Jia Li killed one and she said Akimoto and some other ANBU were fighting; so that can only mean there's still one or two guys running around, and I bet they found the villager's position. I just really hope my thinking is wrong. But why would it be?

Everyone else was thinking the same way; I could see the fear in Akina's eyes and the worry in Chido's and Ringo's. And for the blonde girl whose name was Gin… well, she just had this blank look on her face. I have a strong feeling she has absolutely no idea what's going on.

"Hey," said Chido. I looked at him and asked him what was up. He continued, "Don't tell me you're afraid."

"How could I _not_ be?" I asked; my eyebrows furrowing as I looked at him intensely. How could he accuse me of NOT being afraid? He went on though. "Come on, you were always brave when we pulled tricks on Ino Sensei."

I couldn't help but laugh. Chido and I were such troublemakers back at the academy that Nara Ino, our teacher, just absolutely hated us. We were pretty popular in class as the troublemakers, and everyone would be annoyed by us, but in the end, they couldn't help but laugh along.

We'd put pins on her chair, we'd draw mustaches on the Ninjas in all the history books. We'd behead the flowers that the girls would make. We'd scribble on all the desks, in which took lots of energy to wash it off when she caught us. We'd put stink bombs in the bathroom and we'd switch kid's lunches with paper bags that had 'cow pies' in them.

But man, when she caught us, she caught us. We were always even. It was like a never ending rivalry between the teacher and the top two class clown pranksters. We were so stupid, but it was so worth it.

But when we pulled a good prank, and I mean a real good one, the entire class would be talking about it for the longest time and all our fellow classmates would laugh along with us and our reputation in the school would just keep growing. We were always talked about.

Well, most kids talked about us. The girls in our class found our pranks immature and stupid. We didn't really care then, though. But I started to. I kind of abandoned our pranks when we got near to the end of our academy days. As fun as it was, I didn't want to be seen as an idiot to the girls, because I was getting around that age.

I'll be honest and say, that more specifically; I didn't want to be seen as an idiot in Haruko's eyes, who was younger then us by a year but managed to go ahead and skip into our grade.

I was snapped out of my childhood flashbacks when I heard the last thing I wanted to hear. The screams of the villagers.

We all looked at each other in unison.

"Gee," said Gin. "I didn't realize we might've had to fight!"

We all stared at her blankly; I wasn't sure if she was being serious or if she was just joking. There's no way an ANBU could be that stupid, right?

But that didn't matter; we had to help them out. We caught up easily with the screaming villagers. We looked at the opposite direction of which they were running. Everyone's eyes widened drastically.

A large tiger that was almost as tall as the trees stood there. It was plump and standing on top of it was one of those four (now three) missing-nin. He was tall and had a long neck. He was scrawny and he wasn't old, but there were many wrinkles on his face, on his neck and everywhere. His hair was jet black and his eyes were, strangely, orange.

And there, standing boldly in front of that giant tiger and skinny man was Haruko. Fists clenched by her sides.

"Oi, Haruko!" exclaimed Chido, running ahead, everyone followed close after him.

"Chido?" said Haruko, looking at Chido surprised. She then jumped when she saw him. "Oh my god, Chido!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I look like absolute shit, don't rub it in," said Chido, but he sounded careless about it.

"Are you okay?" I asked Haruko, concerned. She stared at me.

"The real question is are _you _okay?" she asked. "You look absolutely worn out."

"I am, but that doesn't matter right now, hold on, we'll take care of this guy," I said.

"Not on my watch," she said sternly. "As daughter of a medic-nin with powerful medical skills, I say you guys are too worn out to do anything, I'll take care of things, you'll see."

She was acting serious, and I was surprised by that, but then she winked and waved childishly at us so that's when I knew she was okay and I didn't have to check if she was sick or not.

She took out a kunai and cut her finger. She wiped of the blood and placed a firm palm on the floor.

She murmured something underneath her breath that I couldn't hear. Then, there were dust clouds everywhere and I couldn't see anything, then, I felt the ground underneath me rise up (Gin screamed).

When the dust cleared I thought I was going to shit my pants.

I was standing on the head of a long, giant snake. I saw Chido shiver. Once, we tried playing a prank on Ino Sensei, and she got back at us and our plan back fired. It ended with two dozen snakes crawling on Chido. Chido was afraid of snakes ever since the devastating moment.

"Ah! Hisoki! I haven't seen you in forever!" Haruko chirped, hopping up and down that it seemed impossible that a girl so happy could've summoned something so dangerous.

"Man, you again?" growled the serpent, whose name was Hisoki. Out of the corner of his bright yellow eye, he looked at the rest of us. "Oh, great, you brought friends," he said, the hiss was dripping in sarcasm.

"Yes!" said Haruko. "Guys, this is Hisoki, Manda's seventh son and eleventh child. Hisoki, this is Chido, Gai, I don't know her, I don't know him, but I do know that girl over there is named Gin."

"I'm Ringo, and that's Akina," said Ringo, not wanting to be left out of the introduction.

"I don't care," growled Hisoki.

"Man, you're getting even crankier then your father every time I see you!" Haruko snapped at the snake boldly. The snake's eye twitched.

"And you're getting brattier and more arrogant then _your _father every time I see you!" he hissed back. He then grumbled something about bossy, pathetic humans.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. Help me kick this tiger's ass and you can go home, okay?" snapped the dark haired girl.

"**Tiger? Damnit girl! You know as well as I do that snakes don't stand a chance against tigers!**" he hissed, the ground rumbling underneath the powerful volume of his voice.

"Don't worry," said Haruko, sounding careless. The snake made a smart ass remark but Haruko ignored it. She said in a stern and serious voice, "Get me close enough to that tiger and I'll break its skull, and if you don't help me I'll break YOUR skull."

"FINE. But I'm not threatened, just so you know," said Hisoki.

"Thank you Hisoki!"

"Oh shut your mouth, you damn girl!"

"Aw, come on Hisoki, you know you love me!" said Haruko. She then made herself stand taller. "Alright, my snake-sweetie, let's roll!"

"Snake… sweetie?" Hisoki said quizzically, but he forgot about it and sprung his neck forward. His giant mouth opened wide enough so he could swallow the tiger's head whole if he tried.

It jumped away from view and Hisoki missed. Both Hisoki and Haruko didn't seem phased a bit. The tiger's claws unsheathed and slashed at us. Hisoki moved his body to the side so quickly none of us were able to react in time. We just barely managed to hang on.

The serpent and giant cat creature hissed and growled at each other and there was a clash between fangs and claws.

"Come on Hisoki!" Haruko screamed over the sound of trees crashing. "Just get me on the damn cat's head!"

"I will when I can!" snapped Hisoki, he sprang forward and I was so startled that I fell backwards on my back. Akina nearly slipped off but Chido helped her just in time.

"A bunch of brats on a snake can't do anything!" screamed the tiger's master. I almost forgot he was there, because he practically camouflaged with the tiger with his tiger skin cloak, and his black hair and orange eyes didn't exactly help. He was still standing perfectly on the head of that cat, his eyes showed he was furious and intended on killing us.

While Hisoki seemed in bad shape, the tiger still seemed to have lots of energy and strength yet. The tiger's back side was raised up and the upper side was down close to the ground. The tiger pounced at us, claws and sharp teeth pointed in our direction.

Everyone was in shock and knew we couldn't get out. I found my hand reaching out and grabbing Chido's explosive tags. I threw the projectiles at the wild beast, and to my surprise, my careless aim still managed to hit it.

And the perfect spot too.

Haruko, to my surprise, reacted immediately. She performed a complex series of hand seals at perfect rate and speed. Her fingers formed an 'o' shape and she placed it in front of her lips. She took a deep breath.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Skill)!" she cried as she released her breath. A perfect stream of fire was released from her mouth. The fire landed on the explosive notes.

The explosive notes by the master's foot.

The explosion erupted. The explosions weren't as big as we wanted them though, but that was fine, we hit him. And hit him good.

"Quick thinking, good going kid," Hisoki said, his voice relieved. I thought he was talking to Haruko, but his eyes were focused on me. A surge of warmth went through my body at the compliment. But the moment didn't last long. A great roar escaped from the wild cat, and to our displeasure, its master still stood.

"Anybody can avoid an attack! You're missing experience, brats!" he snapped.

"OH SHUT YOUR TRAP!" Haruko snapped at him. "YOU'RE GETTING SO ANNOYING IT'S NOT EVEN FUNNY ANYMORE!"

I noticed that the tiger's golden right eye twitched. I couldn't see the ninja, but I can safely assume his expression was the same.

"Brat, you need to learn to shut your mouth," grumbled Hisoki, also seeming to notice the dark death aura from our opponents. The words were unneeded because by the sheepish and nervous look on Haruko's face, it didn't take a genius to learn that she was regretting her earlier words.

Her significance and bold self just seemed to flush down the drain.

Their attacks became more furious and angry and they'd lash out at us whenever there was an opening. Chido, Ringo, Haruko and I always gave out an attack when we could, but it was hard. Their strength and speed were on par and it was hard to keep up with them. We always noticed multiple openings but we'd never get a chance to attack, because we were to busy hanging on to Hisoki for dear life.

Haruko kept saying she'd get on top of the tiger but she never would because she was too busy giving out commands to everyone else, whether it was 'hang on' or 'shut the hell up you stupid blond bimbo'.

But yeah. Gin was getting annoying though.

"Come on, you Uchiha brat!" shrieked Hisoki, when his tail was being a chew toy for the giant tiger. "Get up there!"

"It's too far away!" Haruko called back.

"No it isn't! Stop being such a damn coward and crush the damn tiger's skull!" snapped the serpent, which was later hissing at the tiger viciously and showing off its fangs.

I looked at the distance between the tiger and us. It was too distant. Too distant from us to expect from Haruko, anyways.

"I can't," she said. Then I sensed something from Haruko I never saw before: fear. There were many things to be afraid of, and I can't pin down what exactly she's afraid of, specifically anyways. Haruko always went around and you'd expect her to be the brave, calm kind of person in battle. But people world never take the time to see underneath that she _did _hate being a ninja. Maybe this is why. Or maybe it's just one of her weaknesses.

"What do you think we should do?" Ringo asked to no one in particular.

"Yeah, we can't just do this forever, we'll lose in the end," Chido admitted.

We all knew what we _could_ do, we knew Haruko was afraid. We knew we were supposed to take down the tiger ourselves, but we're not doing anything. If I was at war right now, back in time, and then I have no doubt that the second Hokage would kill us. It was a harsh thing of him to do, but nobody should be afraid to defend their country and the people they consider dear to them.

Exactly.

"I should do it, then," I said.

"What? Do what?" asked Chido, looking at me with a blank and puzzled look on his face.

"I said I should go and do something," I said. "I'll get rid of that tiger and its master."

"B-But…" said Akina, in a quiet voice, but it still managed to grab everyone's attention. "There… there isn't really anything you could do to… to get r-rid of it, r-r-right?" Her words were dragged and stammered.

"I'll think of something," I said. "I'll go now, so I won't have regrets later."

"Yeah but, then what if you die?" asked Ringo.

"And if I don't do anything, I'll die anyways, I might as well die doing something worthwhile," I said.

"I know you're not the bravest person alive, but I know you're stubborn, so there's nothing much I can do to change your mind, is there?" said Chido.

"I've made up my mind," I said, I stood up, and I felt as if I was going to fall any second, I tried by best to balance myself. I looked around. The closest distance between us and the tiger was further down towards Hisoki's tail. I looked over my shoulder and saw everybody looking at me with either disbelief, worry or a combination of both.

I ran down when I felt when it was safe and walked when I thought I was going to fall. I ended up slipping.

At first I thought I was doomed, but I ended up sliding down Hisoki's back, and I didn't fall off, I thought it was a miracle at first, but I realized Hisoki was shifting his body to make sure I didn't fall.

The tiger, whose teeth were sinking into Hisoki's tail, didn't seem to realize how close I was. By the amount of blood being spilled, I'm surprised Hisoki wasn't crying (or hissing) in agony. The farther I slid down, the more blood that got on my shirt. At first, the disgusting smell of the blood and the gruesome look of it, I felt like just like taking off the shirt and burning it, but it hit me that this blood was actually saving me. The tiger could smell me if I was covered in Hisoki's blood, and I don't think I was that noticeable to something that large, and he was too busy concentrating on bringing down Hisoki, I guess. The only person I had to worry about was the summoner.

But how? How can I get rid of him? It was impossible to come up with an idea, it seemed. All my ideas came back to just fighting him. Maybe I could knock him off the tiger and watch him plummet to his death? Yeah right, there had to be something he could do to survive. I was too close to the tiger to come up with a strategy; I'd just have to come up with an idea. I tried to stand up but it was hard because of all that blood and slippery scales. I made it up though but I had to focus chakra into my feet to keep me up, since the Hisoki's back was slanted from here.

I was so close to the tiger that I could grab its whisker when I jump.

Which, by the way, was so huge that if it hit me, I'd fall off Hisoki. I focused more chakra into my feet and jumped across, it was more then enough and I felt bad about wasting that much chakra, I got past its whiskers and I was holding on the side of its mouth. I couldn't help but glance down.

Oh god.

I pushed myself up onto the tiger's nose. It spotted me. From surprise, it released Hisoki and went backwards. He tried digging his nose into the ground to shake me off.

Oh god.

I'm going to die. I just grabbed a fistful of its fur, to prevent myself from falling off.

Oh god.

Oh god.

He lifted up his head (to my relief) and growled at me, fear surged throughout my body, but I couldn't stop now. I got up charged forward, but I skidded to a stop when I saw the tiger's summoner jump off its back.

"What?" I heard myself whisper. "Why did he…?"

Suddenly, the clouds of white smoke filled the air and I found myself…

Falling.

Falling…

Wait…

**_I was falling!_**

My breath got caught in my throat.

Oh god.

Did they know I was falling? Did they know I was growing closer and closer to my death? Were the clouds to big and thick they can't see me falling faster and faster.

I'd probably die from fear before I hit the ground. Then I slammed into something…

Something wet…

Something red… or purple…

Something smelly…

Oh that's wonderful. I had just fallen onto the upper part of Hisoki's tail. Right where the tiger bit him, and now I'm in Hisoki's blood. I'm just happy that my face didn't get dipped in it.

Wow. This day just keeps getting better and better.

I heard explosions, and then I heard Hisoki hiss. Not a menacing hiss, but a pained hiss. I looked at down, to the lower part of Hisoki's tail was.

WAS being the key word. Nothing was there but a cut off. The scales around it looked dark and burned and the reddish purplish blood was everywhere and the smell was so foul that I felt light headed and felt like I was going to puke.

The sound of the angry and pained hiss echoed throughout the trees and birds flew away. The ground rumbled and Hisoki's cry, though it was a pained cry, struck fear in me. His mouth was so wide open, his yellowed fangs showed clearly and I felt myself shivering and a disturbing image of a limp animal corpse being between those fangs crossed my mind.

Then his head crashed onto the floor and dust clouds flew up like smoke out of a chimney. Was he dead? I didn't know. Could he die? I don't know still. Was everyone else fine? I didn't know, but I hoped everyone, even Hisoki, was okay.

I was separated into three wants. The want to stay here, the want to see if everyone was okay, but most of all, the want to beat the crap out of that guy. I knew I shouldn't stay here, but do I check on everyone else, or fight that guy.

I wanted to kill him. Not only is my best friend in danger, but the girl I had a crush on was in danger too. I had to get him in case he got away. The back of my mind made excuses to meet up with my friends, but I had to ignore it. Just for now.

Even though Hisoki was lying down, the length to jump down was still pretty high. I jumped down anyways. Jumping down was easy, falling was easy, but once my feet planted onto the ground, the force shook from my feet up. It hurt so bad that I wouldn't be surprised if all the bones in my feet were broken. But they weren't. And deep down inside I had an urge to sit down and just massage my poor feet.

Now where was he? I scanned the area quickly yet thoroughly. Then I spotted him but he spotted me first, apparently, because three of his kunai were aimed towards me. I caught one and knocked the others away. I threw the kunai back at him. He was performing hand seals all the while, he stopped and was concentrating, and he began glowing red, orange and yellow. Then, I heard a whishing noise. It was fire. Fire began flying everywhere, and once one hit the ground, it burned the grass. It was slowly raining fire.

More and more came falling from the sky. If I got hit by one, I'd pretty much be in serious pain. More pain then what I am already in, anyways. I'm exhausted, covered in snake blood and my sweat, and my feet were in pain and now I had these little balls of fire raining down at me.

Oh yeah. I should've stayed home. I'd prefer my father's lectures about Youth then this. At least it wasn't AS painful.

I was getting ready to dodge any flaming projectiles when suddenly the ground cracked underneath me. I was startled and then there was a large shadow pass over me. I quickly looked up and saw a large crater of rock being thrown at my fiery opponent. But he didn't attempt to dodge and the crater burst into bits once it made contact, I looked over my shoulder and saw Haruko, Chido, Ringo and a nervous looking Gin.

"Man, just get us next time instead of picking a fight, eh?" said Chido, but he was grinning. I couldn't help but give a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe this guy, he's _so _annoying," said Haruko.

"Where's Akina?" I asked, noticing the shy brunette wasn't there.

"Hisoki's a stubborn bastard and won't leave, so she's using my mom's stronger version of Shousen Jutsu. He'll heal in a matter of moments," said Haruko, shrugging. "She's got some talent with that technique, so I can fight here."

"Take cover guys!" called Ringo, we looked up and we all noticed the fiery object closing in on us.

Haruko reacted immediately and slammed her fist into the ground, the ground cracked underneath her power. She grabbed a piece of the land and held it up (with one hand mind you) to shield us from the fire.

"Now what do we do?" Chido asked.

"You guys do nothing, you should get out of here," said Haruko.

"See ya!" said Gin, ready to run off, but Chido grabbed the back of her ANBU vest. He glared at her.

"Oh no you're not, you should be able to do SOMETHING," said Chido.

"I don't have any special jutsu!" whined Gin.

"So? You have that katana strapped to your back, do something with it! You should know basic jutsu too!" snapped Haruko.

"Not by heart!" scoffed Gin.

"Kawarimi?"

"No."

"Bunshin?"

"Not really."

"ANYTHING?"

"NO! BEING A NINJA'S ANNOYING!"

"I hate being a ninja too but… it's your JOB," said Haruko. "You have to know SOMETHING."

"Well I don't!" snapped Gin.

"Then what do you do on missions?" I asked hotly.

"Pffth. Hideaki, Yutaka and Akimoto can fight just fine," she said, crossing her arms. She then folded her hands and put up them up in front of her face, and she had hearts in her eyes. "Especially Akimoto, I swear, he looks _so_ hot when—"

"Please don't talk about my brother like that, especially in front of me. Or ANYONE for that matter," said Haruko, her voice was disgusted but her face was cross. I'm surprised she hasn't slapped Gin yet. But she continued. "We're getting off track here," she then sighed. "You guys are going to get in my way. Go somewhere else until I need your help."

"Look Haruko, we have more class then that," said Chido.

"Don't worry a thing about me! I'll be just fine, now get going, I'll beat the living shit out of this guy for you!" she then gave her oh-so-famous grin at us.

"I'm going!" said Gin, running off. Chido didn't bother stopping her this time.

"We need a strategy, not a bunch of people willing to get the crap beat out of them," said Chido.

"Too late for you guys," Haruko snorted at him or more specifically us. She then sighed and continued, "Look, this guy is pissing me off more and more by every second and by every technique. He's got tigers and fire popping out of his ass and not to mention he looks like a weird-o. He tried killing me and my oh-so-beautiful self. Don't get me wrong, I'm not into justice and glory, but I am into getting revenge on annoying bastards who won't die or know when to give up."

"Me neither, but we really do have to stick together—"she cut me off.

"Bah. You know what's your problem Gai? You're too hot headed," said Haruko.

"I'm not hot headed!" I snapped at her. She raised her eyebrows at me. I coughed nervously.

Not wanting to drag on the conversation, she threw our shield at our opponent, or, in Haruko's words, 'the annoying bastard'.

Once the crater made contact with him, it burst.

"He is SUCH a Gary Stu…" Haruko muttered. (RLN: Gary Stu is like the male version of Mary Sue XD.)

"My name is _Juro_," he said, glaring at the Gary Stu comment. "And in case you haven't noticed, I have an armor made of _fire _on right now. Of course a lame move wouldn't have killed me, I have this armor."

"It wasn't that lame," muttered Haruko, obviously offended. Even thought she didn't like it, Haruko was still an Uchiha, which meant she had Uchiha pride. (RLN: You can say that again…)

A large ball of fire came down on us.

"Move!" shouted Ringo unnecessarily; we all jumped out of the way. The flames burst up dangerously and black smoke was beginning to fill the air.

I looked frantically around and couldn't find anybody. The smoke from all the fires was beginning to fill the air. I crouched down and covered my mouth.

I glanced around through the smoke. No sign of that guy Juro. Then there was a force of wind, the smoke blew away and I saw Chido with an elemental tag held down on the floor, the character on it representing wind.

I glanced around and saw a trail of kunai. My eyes followed up it and widened when I saw Ringo on the floor. Kunai were embedded in his back. Chido looked just as shocked as me. Chido and I ran up to him, Chido crouched down and put his two fingers by Ringo's neck, checking for a pulse.

He looked back up at me and nodded. I assumed he was still alive.

Then a large cracking noise echoed. Chido and I looked at the source, alarmed. Haruko and Juro were engaged in a battle, both kept their distance. Haruko was throwing kunai at Juro, whose fire techniques would knock them back onto the floor.

"Come on, we should go—"Chido stopped. I froze.

Haruko closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they were blood red.

"Sharingan…?" I wondered aloud, my voice coming out in a whisper. Chido nodded dumbly. Juro looked alarmed too.

"You have the sharingan!" he called out to her.

"No shit, Sherlock!" she called back. "I'm just as shocked as you, I just developed it now, I guess," she shrugged carelessly and went on. "But I guess this gives me an advantage now."

"How so?" he replied.

"This is an advanced sharingan, in my right eye anyways," she said.

"Your eyes are different," said Juro. "One has two comma marks while the other has three. That's impossible."

"Obviously, it isn't, dumb shit!" she called back. "It's hard to even it out, I'll admit, but this'll help when the time comes."

Juro shot a large stream of fire at her. She was out of the way before it even got close to her spot. She had jumped in the air and was performing hand seals at a rapid pace that my eyes couldn't keep up.

"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Mythical Phoenix Fire Skill)!" a group of small fireballs emitted from Haruko's mouth, all sent towards him. He didn't bother to dodge at all, knowing the fire wouldn't affect him at all.

But once the fire hit him, he gave out a cry. Shuriken were hidden inside the flames. He wasn't dead, but Haruko had the advantage because he lost his concentration, and the flames from his body went away. Haruko landed on the floor in front of him, she was about to send an uppercut punch but Juro moved and at the last second, Juro struck Haruko with an open palm and hit her side. He then delivered a spinning kick that sent her staggering backwards.

"Is she okay?" asked Chido, just as alarmed as I was. Haruko recovered quicker then I thought she would, she smashed her foot into the floor, the earth crumbled beneath the force and under Juro. Juro stumbled backwards from shock and tried to regain his balance, Haruko was quicker though.

"YOU—"she sent a powerful punch across his face, he flew backwards. "—ARE SO ANNOYING!" Her shout had so much ferocity in it; I was beginning to wonder if she really _did _use her super strength when she punched that guy.

The guy hit the floor hard.

"Well," said Chido, after there was a silence between us. "That's ONE reason why I don't like to go out with ninja chicks."

"It's shocking," I said. "But it seems hot."

"Oh be quiet!" snapped Chido.

"Let's go check it out," I said, when I noticed Haruko walking up to our opponent. We both chased after her and slowed down when we got near the guy.

"There's no doubt his jaw is broken," said Haruko. She shrugged. "Not my problem though. I just wish we could ask him what the hell is going on."

"Akimoto, Jia Li and that one ANBU should be getting close to an enemy by now, they'll find out what's happening," Chido insisted.

"Yeah," said Haruko, she closed her eyes and when she reopened them, it went back to her dark color. "Well, I didn't get to use the sharingan, but it'll help out sometime. If I have to go on another mission that is," she rubbed the back of her neck. "I hate missions."

"Too bad you're good at them," I said. She looked at me questioningly.

"What?"

"Gai's right," Chido chirped in. "You pretty much owned this guy."

"Bah," she said. "I just don't want to fight. Might as well finish it quickly," she looked back at Juro and went on. "We'll take him to Konoha; he'll get into a hospital and go to jail. Just tie him up, and if he escapes, let him go, he'll die from blood loss."

"I got the tag for that, you guys should check on Akina, Gin and Hisoki," said Chido. "Oh! And check on Ringo too!"

"No problem," chirped Haruko. She then looked at me. "I really don't feel like talking to the air headed ANBU so you can check on them, I'll check out that Ringo guy and help him out."

"Okay," I said. I looked at Chido. "Just bring him over later, okay?"

"Aye cap'n!" said Chido, laughing. I just rolled my eyes at him, but I smiled. Walking over to the Akina and the two serpents (Hisoki and Gin), the first thing I asked was if everyone was okay.

"Of course we're not okay!" snapped Gin. "I'm dirty and this snake stinks!"

"I'd eat you if you didn't look so _un_appetizing!" hissed Hisoki.

"I'm fine, and Hisoki should be too," said Akina quietly that I almost didn't hear her. She was focusing the Shousen Jutsu onto Hisoki's wound, which was healing rapidly and faster then I thought.

Haruko came trotting over, Ringo slung over her shoulders.

"He's asleep now, thanks to my technique. He needs his rest," Haruko explained. "Everyone's okay, right?"

"Bowl cut asked me that already!" snapped Gin. Haruko glared at her.

"I wasn't talking to you! I could care less about you! Especially since you did absolutely nothing!" Haruko snapped. "You couldn't even TRY to help out! You insult to hard working—"

"Haruko, stop yourself while you're ahead," said Chido, who coming up with Juro. On Juro's chest was an elemental tag, chakra strings from the tag helped wrap around his body, preventing him from escaping. He then asked, "Now what?"

"The villagers fled, we have to check on them," said Haruko. "And then get 'em out of here," Haruko stopped to pat Hisoki with her free hand. "Ready to go yet?"

"Bah!" growled Hisoki. "I'm fine!"

"Your cry of terror didn't say that," Haruko teased.

"Damn, no good, bratty human child—"

"I KNOW you're not talking about me!" snapped Haruko. Jumping up on Hisoki's head and placing Ringo next to her.

With some assistance, we all got up on top of Hisoki's head. Once Akina finished her job and sat next to us, Hisoki moved his stood his upper body up. It felt weird going up at the fast pace.

"This is getting SO annoying, this is just as gross as my other missions!" complained Gin.

"Then why are you a ninja, nonetheless, an ANBU?" I asked.

"I'm the luckiest girl in the world, after all, Akimoto's on my squad," said Gin. Gin then glared at Haruko. "Hear that? I'm on Akimoto's squad, so you BETTER start respecting me!"

"And why is that?" snapped Haruko. Gin scoffed.

"Because I'm GOING to be your future sister in law!" she snapped.

"I'd rather have HISOKI as a sister in law then you!" snapped Haruko, crossing her arms.

"I hope you're just joking," said Hisoki.

"I don't care if you have a crush on my brother, but making it sound like he's already yours is crossing the line!"

"Who ELSE could be his girlfriend? I'm beautiful! Akimoto couldn't POSSIBLY want another girl, other then me!"

"He never asked you out."

"Yeah! Gai's right!"

"That's because he's shy!"

"That's stupid! My brother isn't shy! He just doesn't like you! You're so pathetic you can't even see that!"

"HE'S HIDING HIS UNDYING LOVE!"

"THE ONLY THING HE'S HIDING IS HATRED!"

"HE'S HIDING UNDYING LOVE!"

"HE'S HIDING HATRED!"

"UNDYING LOVE!"

"HATRED!"

"LOVE!"

"HATE!"

Hisoki's eye twitched.

"Don't worry," I said to him. "I'm sure we'll find the villagers and be able to go back home, then you won't have to hear this racket any longer."

"You make it sound like I'm your pet or something," growled Hisoki. "But thanks, I need all the encouragement I can get."

I don't know why, but I laughed, Chido and Akina, who overheard our conversation, laughed too, and our laughter drowned out the noises of Haruko and Gin's arguing, that, or we just didn't listen as hard.

End of Chapter

RLN: Okay, I kept stopping because I didn't know where to go with the story. I kept trying and trying to write, but I'm not those types of people who just sit down and write, I need ideas and inspiration to hit me. The thing that helped me most was music (THANK YOU LINKIN PARK) to give me inspiration.

After Akimoto, Part 4 will start. (Enter evil laughter here) and that's where the ROMANCE begins, because I know you all love mushy romance stories, and if you don't, oh well. Sucks to be you.

And there will not be one, but TWO love triangles. (Evil laughter)

Anyways, please review.

P.S. Considering I'm too lazy to, I have not reread and edited this, so if there are lots of mistakes, be aware of that.


	9. Part 3: Uchiha Akimoto

RLN: Seems like everyone is pepped up for part 4… aww… you guys want mushy love! XD

Also, on another note, this story has (finally) reached 100 reviews! WHOO!

Anyways, here we go!

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 3: Uchiha Akimoto_

The battle was pretty much tied. All of us were exhausted, but not fallen. Our weapons supply was high and our chakra was on par. Sweat was rolling down all of our faces, but our faces also showed we weren't about to give in.

But out of all coincidences, most of all, our teams weren't getting along.

Our opponents, Samuru and Ishi, kept insulting one another, calling each other stupid and they didn't even attempt to make plans.

Hideaki still wasn't cooperating with me. He wouldn't take any of my orders or go with any of my plans. He just said I was unfit to be a leader, instead of actually telling me what I was doing wrong. (RLN: Funny how that last sentence describes flamers XD)

"Why won't you take any of my orders?" I hissed, loud enough to make my point clear but quiet enough so Samuru and Ishi (who were calling each other names) couldn't hear.

"Why should I? You're not a good enough leader."

"Obviously, if I can't get my teammate to work with me," I snorted. Hideaki always pissed me off, but whenever I was leader, he just pisses me off more, especially since he decides not to take any of my orders. I should've known not to assign him to my team. "Fine," I said, giving in. "You do your own thing and I'll do mine."

"We've been doing that so far," said Hideaki. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

Hideaki turned his focus away from me and quickly to our opponents. He threw shuriken at them, Ishi spotted the shuriken first and pushed Samuru away from him, he then tried to escape himself. He got out of way but his arm got scarred.

Samuru got up from the floor and threw a couple of his kunai towards us. I deflected them with my katana. Hideaki, meanwhile, ran towards Ishi, throwing more shuriken that were either dodged or knocked out of the way. I focused my eyes back on Samuru who was shuffling through his shuriken pouch; he kept an intense look on me. His eyes were sharp and his eyes narrowed when we made eye contact. I glared right back at him.

He threw his shuriken at me, I jumped up, the shuriken moved underneath me and missed. My feet planted deeply in the ground when I landed, I recovered quickly, and almost the second I landed, I charged toward him. I held my sword's grip tightly, and kept it close by my side. He got ready for my attack, so I feinted to my right. Before he could recover, I elbowed him in his stomach. I swung my katana at him, but he brought up his left arm and blocked the blow. The cut in his arm was deep though. He jumped back, and preformed a series of hand seals.

My eyes widened a bit as my sharingan sucked in the information. The attack was ninjutsu.

Although the hand seals were supposed to be quick, I saw them go slowly. Monkey, ox, boar, horse, ram then boar again. I put my hands together and copied his earlier movements; monkey, ox, boar, horse, ram and boar.

The element was earth. We both slammed the palms of our hands onto the dirt floor. The ground shot up and forwards. The amount of earth that shot towards him was at least twice the size of his. I couldn't help but smirk when my jutsu not only defeated his, but went straight towards him. He looked shock, whether he was shocked that he was going to get hit or the fact his move was just copied, I don't know.

He got knocked back by the attack, but he still managed to land on his feet, but there hard rock of the attack made a large gash in his gut. He wrapped one of his arms around his wound, with his other hand; he reached in his kunai pouch. He pulled out his kunai and threw it straight at me. Even before I could get ready to block all of them, shuriken came from above and clashed with the kunai, and weapons all fell to the floor.

Samuru and I both looked up, and standing up on a tree branch, was Jia Li.

"Great," said Samuru sarcastically. "Another one."

"Nah. They don't count, I do," Jia Li said.

Well, aren't we prideful?

She jumped down from the tree. She put her hand inside her kunai pouch.

"So what's taking you guys forever?" she snorted. How arrogant.

"At least we don't look like shit."

"You're not the one who had to deal with the weak blond who doesn't know how to get out of the way!" she snapped. Weak blond? She must be talking about Gin. She continued, "Besides, I think you better think twice before saying something like that."

"Ha-ha. Very hilarious," I said dryly.

"Nice way to treat someone who's going to save your ass," she said, though sounding careless about it, she slipped out a kunai. "So how are things looking?"

"Our battle is pretty much tied," I said. "What happened with you?"

"I decided to come over here and see how things were going. Gai and Chido are okay and they're with Gin, a chuunin and some girl, they're going to find the villagers and Haruko to escort them over to—"

"What? They're with the villagers?" I asked.

"Yeah, why? You sound worried," said Jia Li.

"We heard these guys blab that their accomplice should be searching for the villagers and attack them," I said. Jia Li looked shocked.

"That's not good, they're no fighters. Except Haruko, maybe, but can she really take a guy who's on the same level as these guys?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "Haruko's skilled, but she doesn't have any real experience…"

"Plus, she's got that annoying girl to weigh her down," Jia Li said, a bit bitterly.

"Oh no, Haruko will probably just snap at her and she should shut up, or Gin will get afraid and run away," I said. Gin was predictable, that way.

"Alright, but back to the battle, what's the plan?" she said in a serious tone.

Uh oh.

"Err… there is no plan," I admitted. There'd be no point in lying, I can't lie. She stared blankly at me.

"You're telling me you guys haven't come up with a single plan?" she said, her eyebrows furrowed and gave me a stern look. I nodded truthfully. She looked at the floor and shook her head. "Of course, what was I thinking? You can't take two arrogant, prideful men, put them together for a battle, and expect them to come up with a plan."

I hope she knew I was standing RIGHT there.

Before I could protest that it wasn't my fault, I saw Samuru charging at us from the corner of my eye. I'm surprised he could still move. He was going to strike me with his drawn dagger, but I blocked it with my katana. I could hear the blades scratch against each other.

I brought up my sword up quickly; I was expecting the kunai to fly out of his hand, but it only loosened from his grip, so I smacked his hand with my left hand and the kunai flung right out and onto the floor, I swung a horizontal strike with my katana, but he ducked. A swung a kick at him, but he blocked the hit and rolled over to the right, to get out of my way. When he stood up, Jia Li ran up to him, ready for her attack.

She threw an open palm strike at him, towards his chest, the attack was quick, but at the last second he moved to the left, and the attack hit the air. He threw a punch, the attack was going to hit her side, but quickly, she swung her leg at his feet, he tripped, but regained balance quickly. Jia Li however sent a knee kick…

Which hit his groin.

I winced. Just witnessing it still made me feel the pain. Even though he was the enemy, no man should suffer that pain. And looking at seriousness on Jia Li's face, I had a feeling it wasn't an accident.

He fell on his knees; the expression on his face was just priceless. Jia Li really gave no mercy though. She threw a kick that sent him flying backwards yards away. He managed to get up though, but he struggled to.

He preformed hand seals. I felt my eyes move, reading the technique.

It was Ninjutsu.

Shousen Jutsu.

"Throw your kunai at him!" I commanded Jia Li, Jia Li didn't bother arguing and did as told. The chakra gathered at his hand but disappeared when he lost his concentration, he moved to the right, the kunai whizzing right past his ear. He looked pissed.

He slipped his hand into a long, yet wide pouch that was strapped onto his leg; he pulled out a weapon that had a short, sickle shaped blade at the end of the handle.

"What's that?" I said, not noticing I said it aloud.

"A Kama," Jia Li responded. "It's used to be a farming tool, but you can use it as a weapon now."

"Well, looks like he got an upgrade for his weapons," I said. "A kunai can't beat a weapon like that."

"Looks like I'll have to finish off this guy then," she grabbed a scroll from her belt and opened it up and laid it on the floor. She bit her thumb and spread a line of blood on the scroll. A burst of dust clouds filled the air, and when everything cleared, Jia Li too, was holding a Kama.

"Obviously, I can handle this guy, it won't take long, you should help the Aburame," said Jia Li.

"Whatever," I said carelessly, shrugging. I was going to leave but stopped and added, "Jia Li?" she looked at me. "Piece of advice: don't call him Aburame." Jia Li just rolled her eyes and took off towards Samuru, and I ran off to help Hideaki. As I turned and saw him, it seemed as if this Ishi guy wasn't going down anytime soon.

Hideaki landed a punch, which was blocked by both of Ishi's arms. Kikai (destruction) bugs were released out of Hideaki's sleeve; Ishi pushed back Hideaki by jerking his arms forward. Hideaki regained his balance quickly, and then Ishi jumped backwards to avoid the insects. I walked up next to Hideaki.

"What are you doing? Don't you have to fight your own opponent?" said Hideaki in that calm voice, but still never taking his focus away from his opponent.

"Jia Li's here now, she's planning on finishing Samuru guy off," I said. Hideaki still didn't glance at me.

"You sure she can do it?"

"First off, she doesn't seem like a pushover, and second of all, Samuru's pretty much finished," I said.

"He's still alive now, though, right?" said Hideaki. I was about to speak but Hideaki went on. "Underestimation is the key to failure, am I right?"

"And being a know-it-all is the key to annoyance, am I right?"

"That's beside the point, and you know it," said Hideaki, eyebrows furrowed. "I'm fine, I can handle this guy."

"Underestimation is the key to failure," I said. "Hypocrite," I added after a pause.

"I had a feeling you'd turn that against me, eventually," said Hideaki. "But I prefer it when people do their own part, and their own job. Finish off your opponent and I'll finish mine."

"Not a chance, get over it."

"I can't tell if you're just being stubborn or you just said that to piss me off."

"Both."

"Ah."

"And then this is the part where you say 'it can't be helped."

"It can't be helped."

"Glad you're cooperating Hideaki."

"Arrogance…" Hideaki said with a short, irritated sigh. I took a quick peek at how at Jia Li. She parried every blow made by Samuru. Samuru was slowing down. There was no need to worry.

Not that I would worry over her, a complete stranger.

Hideaki and I moved forward in unison. Hideaki pulled out a kunai and held it tightly; I did the same with my sword.

"Ready?"

"Of course."

We both charged forward. Ishi wasn't ready in time so he had to whip up his defense. I went ahead of Hideaki and thrust my sword forward. Ishi moved backwards. He grabbed my sword; he was going to throw it away with his massive strength but Hideaki swiped at Ishi with his kunai. It caught him off guard but Ishi only got scratched on the cheek. He released my sword and staggered backwards from the surprise attack.

Time to finish it was nearing. I slammed my sword into the ground. I preformed the hand seals I was so used to making. My throat began to burn.

"Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu (Fire Release: Dragon Fire Skill)!" I took a breath and opened my mouth as a thick but straight stream of fire rushed towards Ishi. He preformed hand signs and rapid speed but my eyes saw them all, every single one. Ninjutsu. Earth type. He put his hands on the ground as a wall of soil, rocks and grass raised out of the ground. My fire technique blasted it, but Ishi still stood, injured slightly, but still alive.

"I am an A-Ranked ninja, I don't die easily," said Ishi, glaring at us.

"And we are ANBU, we also don't die easily," I replied coolly. Hideaki's Kikai bugs were released from his sleeves. They crawled onto his kunai. Hideaki threw the kunai at Ishi's foot, downwards. Ishi moved his foot, but the Kikai bugs crawled off the kunai and onto his foot. He cursed. He was distracted from the insects and his attention was drawn away from me. This was my opening. I pulled the katana out of the ground and made the final blow.

My katana finally pierced into him. His breath choked. He staggered backwards and his back was pressed against a tree and he sagged down. He was dead before he hit the floor. I pulled out my sword gravely.

Hideaki and I both took our attention to Jia Li and Samuru were still blocking and attacking each other. Suddenly, Samuru kicked her hard. Some would call it an unfair move, but when you're fighting for your life there's no such thing as an unfair move.

She staggered backwards, gritting her teeth and her Kama dropped to the floor. Samuru threw his weapon for the finishing blow but Hideaki and I both ran forward. I dropped my katana to the floor and grabbed Jia Li and pulled her out of the way while Hideaki used a drawn kunai to defend Samuru's attack. Hideaki had to focus chakra into his kunai just so it would have enough strength to defend against Samuru's better weapon.

"Bah. I'm fine. Let go," she hissed at me. I glared at her for the lack of her thanks, but I did as told and released her.

The kunai was just way too weak and small compared to the Kama, so Samuru overpowered Hideaki. He pushed down and Hideaki's kunai fell. Hideaki rushed to the right so he wouldn't be hit by the Kama's wrath. Samuru then looked at Jia Li and I. He swung his Kama at us. I took a step back; Jia Li ducked underneath the Kama and ran forward. Was she running away? I glared at her, but then she reached down on the floor and picked up the katana I dropped earlier. She went into fighting position.

Her stance was different. The way I was taught was to bend your knees, have your legs separated a distance that matched the distance between your two shoulders, and have your sword in front of you. (RLN: This is a hypothetical stance. I've seen it a lot in games and movies, but I'm not positive if this is a regular stance. Jia Li's stance will be totally made up and not inspired by any other sword stances. Also, sorry if my description for the stances confuse you.)

Jia Li's left foot reached out farther then her right and the distance between was much farther then the ANBU were taught. Instead of her sword being reached out forward towards opponent, it was by her right side. Her back was straight and her knees were bent greatly that if she crouched down a bit more, it would seem like she was sitting on an invisible chair. It took me a few second before I realized it was the Jyuken stance, only with the exception of her hands, because she was holding a sword.

I can't read her mind and I don't know anything about her or her past. I could just guess that maybe she was an amateur with a sword and just used the stance she was used to, but that seemed unlikely. Maybe she didn't realize it or maybe she just didn't care. The most likely reason I could think of was that that was just the way she was taught.

Whatever the reason was, when Samuru accepted her challenge and went after her, she owned him.

Her foot had moved back at a curved angle, then, she stepped forward with her right foot, her foot raised with the sword and her foot planted into the ground when the katana came down and planted itself in Samuru's shoulder.

Samuru dropped the Kama on instinct. Jia Li pulled the sword out, which deepened Samuru's cut. The cut wasn't deep, because there isn't much between the skin and the shoulder's bone.

But they didn't stop there. Jia Li made a vertical strike but Samuru ducked and grabbed his Kama, raised it up and it blocked the katana's attack before it could kill him, but then Jia Li swooped her leg and kicked him yards away from her. Hideaki, who was closest, ran over to Samuru and planted his foot on his chest, preventing him from escaping. Samuru's Kama was all the way over by Jia Li, so he couldn't attack. Hideaki put his kunai by Samuru's throat.

"All right," said Hideaki. Me and Jia Li crowded around them. "Tell us why you're attacking this village, or I'll kill you."

"Fine…" said Samuru bitterly. "But you're not going to like my answer." Hideaki's eyebrows furrowed and Jia Li's eyes narrowed. He continued, "They're a target, for our village."

"Your village," said Hideaki, disbelievingly. "You're rogue ninja."

"That was a mask, so the Hokage would suspect us of war."

"Well, if what you say is true, it seems like your village IS looking for war," said Jia Li.

"Of course, we wanted to be able to give a sneak attack towards Konoha. We wanted to get information, any information, about Konoha from this village. But this village was as to no help at all. They had absolutely nothing about Konoha's ninja at all."

"Where are you from?" asked Hideaki. Samuru hesitated, but Hideaki brought his kunai to Samuru's throat.

"I come from the land that hides in the clouds," he replied quickly. Hideaki glanced at us, but then looked back at Samuru.

"And you come from the Raikage's orders?"

"Yes."

"Why does he want to fight Konoha?"

Samuru glanced at each of us, before he lifted a hand and pointed. Hideaki and I looked at Jia Li, his target.

"The byakugan."

"Long ago, you guys signed a treaty with Konoha, you promised not to go after the byakugan again," snapped Jia Li. "And you're willing to break that treaty?"

"Our new leader is the nephew of the Raikage who went after the byakugan before. I'm not sure if he's doing this because of himself or if he wants revenge for his uncle's death."

"Revenge?" roared Jia Li. "Of all people, the Hokage and my father should be getting revenge! The Hokage's wife was kidnapped when she was three for the byakugan! And my grandfather died because of it!"

"And we lost our leader," Samuru said, glaring at her.

"_Because he deceived Konoha and put our heiress, my father's cousin, in danger_!"

"Calm down," said Hideaki firmly. Jia Li did as told but her glare never left Samuru.

"You will be taken to Konoha," Hideaki said to Samuru. "But your visit won't be pleasant, especially after we explain everything to the Hokage."

Hideaki and I tied up Samuru, Hideaki's kunai never left its spot by Samuru's throat. I led the way, then Hideaki and Samuru came after me and Jia Li bitterly followed behind us. We were going to meet up with Haruko and the others and once we got to Konoha, we would explain everything.

I tried focusing on other things, because the thought of a war made me feel small.

End of Chapter

RLN: I have Microsoft Word. In Microsoft Word, if you spell a word wrong, a little red squiggly line under the word will appear. Then you have to press F7 and they'll give you a list of words what the underlined word might be. I typed _Hokage's _and it had the red squiggly line under it. I was going to add it to dictionary when I saw one of the words they thought it might be was _Hoagie's_ and I was like wtf?

This is a crucial chapter.


	10. Part 4: Jia Li

RLN: Okay, I really have no excuse. I, for one, am ashamed of myself. It should not take so freaking long to update a chapter.

But part 4 is starting so things will look a bit better now, and chapters will be a little more fun for me to write.

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 4: Jia Li_

Even though the ninja were gone, some of the villagers had to come back for a report for the Hokage. The Lord of the village came with us; he was pretty old and had a white beard and his face was mixed with sadness. The girl named Akina came with us, along with her younger sister.

We all met up and the Lord wanted to say goodbye to the village before we left while Akina and her sister said goodbye to their parents, who were both found alive. We all watched them say goodbye.

"I'm so glad we're going home!" said Gin. "I'm exhausted." Practically everybody glared daggers at her.

"You didn't do anything," said Haruko, beating me to the punch.

"Liar, I did plenty and I did a great job!" said Gin, but we all knew she was lying. She didn't even get out of the way when an attack was coming; all she did was scream instead of standing her ground.

"We argued all the way over here, I'm not even going to start again," said Haruko, finally realizing Gin wasn't going to give in at all, but she didn't show any mercy in glaring at her. I think this is finally the day I found someone I despised more then Haruko.

Gin freaked out underneath Haruko's glare, so she went by Chido and Gai, probably to bitch at them.

"You two are the whole reason we're all injured. I expect an apology and a thank you!" said Gin, crossing her arms. Chido and Gai looked at each other in unison. I rolled my eyes. Bad move, I'm expecting lots of pranks being pulled on her.

"The only thing they owe you is a slap across the face!" snapped Haruko, stopping over there probably to scream at her.

_Great, _I thought angrily. There was going to be absolutely no peace on the way back home.

"Does she ever shut up?" I growled to no one in particular.

"No, but try being the one she hides behind." I turned around and saw Akimoto with this irritated look on his face.

"Yeah, must be great having her as your number one annoying fangirl," I said smirking.

In a way, I believe most guys like that deserve annoying fangirls, so they won't get too full of themselves.

Still, with a girl like Gin, you had to feel sorry for the guy.

"Oh yeah," he said sarcastically. "It's like heaven on earth."

A silence filled the air; if you ignored Haruko and Gin's shrieks and name-calling in the background that is.

"Does your aim still suck or have you been working on it?" I said.

Wait.

Did I just start a conversation?

"Well, not perfect, but better," he paused but then quickly added, "Not much though."

"Oh," I said. I think I couldn't have felt any stupider or more embarrassed, I don't know why though. I hated talking, things get awkward and quiet so easily, and you'd do anything for an ice-breaker.

"HEY!" said a loud voice, taking me completely by surprise. An arm wrapped around my shoulder and neck and Akimoto's too. "Ya know, thanks for all the help guys."

I glared at Chido. He was touching me.

"Go away Chido," said Akimoto in a blunt tone. Chido looked at him, a bit shocked. He then looked at me. I glared at him more. Why the heck was he looking at me with that expression? He switched his glance to Akimoto, then me, then Akimoto.

"Oh I see what's going on here. Awkward," he said. What the heck was he talking about?

"What the heck are you talking about?" I said, glaring at him even more (if possible).

"Oh nothing, just pretend I wasn't here, I'm going to go now and leave you two alone, but like I said, thanks!" he was about to leave but I grabbed his arm and dragged him back. I glared at him. "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Okay, act like you have no idea what I'm talking about if you must Jia Li," said Chido rolling his eyes. I glared at him but then an idea struck.

"Wait, you don't think we're…"

"Me and _her_?" said Akimoto, catching on.

"Yes?" said Chido.

"Ugh, I would never!" I snapped at Chido. I started yelling at him but then Akina and the Lord of the village came by, finished, and that was our cue to go.

Chido must be on crack or something. Akimoto and _me_? I barely knew the guy, plus it had taboo written all over since I was, somewhat, engaged. I still needed to talk to mom and dad about that. I know they won't put me into something I don't want. They're not like that at all.

Oh, and not mention he's an Uchiha and I'm a Hyuuga. I would never be with him because the Hyuuga clan is _way _superior compared to his clan. What's so great about the sharingan? Oh yeah, it takes _tons_ of skill to just copy a person like a monkey. Pffth.

Our trip back home consisted of three things; arguing, violence and more arguing. Haruko and Gin were practically clawing each other's eyes out, I was clawing at Gai's and Chido's for being so stupid and putting their lives as well as ours in danger and Akimoto and Hideaki were beginning to get impatient with our bickering.

Gai and Chido deserved all the scolding they could get though, for being such idiots, and Gin pretty much deserved every thing that gets thrown at her, literally speaking of course.

I thought ninja were supposed to be silent, stealthy warriors feared by many, but these airheads just made me think it over.

"I'm tired," said Gin suddenly, out of the open. "All that running and fighting is beginning to get to me, can we please take a break?"

"What running and fight—"Haruko started, but Gin was beginning to learn from her own idiocy.

"I know what you're going to say," said Gin quickly. "It's going to be offending."

"All I'm saying," said Haruko loudly. "Is that we don't have to stop every time something bothers you. You're not the only person on this team who's tired."

"Well in that case," said Gin. "If more then one person is tired then we should take a break, right?"

"That wasn't what I was trying to say!" screamed Haruko.

"Will you two idiots please stop shouting?" I growled irritably. Haruko and Gin both glared at me in unison. I heard Gai whisper to Chido.

"Jeez, the whole trip home is going to be hell with all these females around."

"_Excuse me?_" I snapped, whipping my head in his direction. The two stopped laughing.

"Uh… you didn't hear me, did you?" he said nervously.

"Yes, I did, and I'd say it aloud but I know Haruko would just frazzle you to bits," I said, glaring at him.

"What'd he say?" asked Haruko, looking back at us.

"Nothing!" said Chido before I could say anything. He then pretended to laugh. "It's just a little bit of humor!"

Haruko's eyebrows furrowed and her dark eyes narrowed at them, but we kept walking and she eventually broke her gaze.

"CAN WE PLEASE STOP?" screamed Gin.

"NO! WE'RE GOING TO WALK JUST TO PISS YOU OFF!" Haruko shrieked in her face. Gin stopped—the abrupt pause almost made Chido trip—and she turned towards Akimoto, the Lord, Hideaki and I.

"Akimoto," she whined. "Can we please take a break?"

"Well," Akimoto started. "I guess for a short while."

Gin beamed with pride, actually thinking that she got her way because Akimoto liked her. It was obvious that Akimoto just said that so she wouldn't complain about it later. Not to mention he was probably exhausted too, I know I was.

We sat down and Akina offered some rice balls she took before we left the village. I declined, so Chido happily took mine. The pig.

I stared up at the sky. I just really want to go home right now; all of a sudden everyone's all cheery, but that's probably because their bloodlines aren't in trouble at the moment. How could something that happened so long ago affect us now? I guess the saying 'your past will come back to haunt you' would just be the best way to describe things right now.

Still, confusion wasn't my strongest emotion. I was so angry, I lost somebody I could've been close to, somebody I could've respected and learned from. I lost a family member because of those idiots, and now history's repeating itself.

I can't even bring myself imagine how many people or who we'll lose this time.

I was lost in my thoughts when I suddenly hear Gin scream. I looked down from the sky and focused my attention at Gin. Why did she have rice all over her hair?

"Oops," said Chido. "Sorry."

Ah, so Chido and Gai have finally struck, literally. Oh well, she deserved it, plus, it could've been worse. I don't think she'd even be able to imagine what kind of pranks Gai and Chido did to me when I pissed them off. That's probably why Chido took my food.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gin screamed. She turned to Akimoto. "Did you just see what he did to me?"

"Yeah," said Akimoto. "Good luck with washing that out."

Gin's jaw dropped, I felt the corner of my mouth twitch; I really wanted to laugh out loud. I could hear Gai and Haruko snickering quietly and Chido just pretended to be innocent, acting like he had no idea what had just occurred. I could tell Akimoto wanted to crack a smile too.

After Gin snapped at Chido, we all cleaned up and continued heading out. However, Gin constantly kept complaining so we were forced to take a lot of stops. Her complaining drove us all mad; I snapped at her, Haruko snapped at her, Gai snapped at her, Chido snapped at her, and even Hideaki did (once). However, when Akimoto snapped at her to be quiet, she actually listened. Every time she was about to complain, Akimoto would glare at her and she would shut right up.

We made it to the gate entrance of Konoha, the moment we stepped in, I felt safe. I wanted to go home, but we had to head to the Hokage's tower right away and make our reports. But now that we were here, we were all more relaxed.

"Hey," I heard Haruko say. I glanced out of the corner of my eye. "You're Akina, right?"

Akina looked a bit startled that Haruko had called for her.

"Y-Yeah?" she said, in a meek voice that you could barely hear.

"I don't think I've seen anybody learn a technique so quickly and be able to use it with precise control," said Haruko. Akina looked a bit startled with that, she flushed.

"Oh, I… thank you? Sorry… I'm really not good with… compliments," said Akina hesitantly.

"Well, you better get used to it, for a person who's not a ninja, you'd be a great one, you can manipulate chakra and steady it pretty well, I bet if you practiced a bit, you'd have it down perfectly," said Haruko. "You'd make a great medical ninja, trust me on this."

"T-thanks," said Akina, with a soft smiled. "But still… I-I'm not a ninja…"

"Well, if you trained with me, I'd make you into one."

One mission and Haruko's acting like being a ninja was her life. She was skilled, I'd admit, especially since she was able to tie with me, if she had more heart into it, she'd be a good ninja, but… Haruko just wasn't like that.

We got to the tower. We headed up the stairs when we saw the Hokage talking to a group of kids. The Hokage was a nice person, I knew him well; he was related to me, not by blood though. He was married to my aunt, well, she wasn't technically my aunt, but she had become close enough to my parents it didn't make a difference, so I kind of saw him as an uncle too.

It'd hurt to tell him what happened on our mission. I know I was furious when those words came out of Samuru's mouth.

"Lord Hokage," said Hideaki, getting his attention. He turned to look at us and I saw a flash of relief go across his face.

"Oh, you guys are back, mission successful?" he asked, his cerulean eyes twinkling. We all gave a nod.

"Yeah, and we have urgent news about the mission," said Akimoto.

I found it amazing how the Hokage could jump to a different emotion so quickly, going from happy to serious in a second, but with the tone of Akimoto's voice, it certainly helped.

"Alright," he said, he looked down at the children and told them to get going to class before he looked back up at us. "Alright then, Hideaki, I want you to give me the report in my office, I want you to inform me about the mission first."

A saw a hint of confusion flash through Akimoto's face but a second later the look was gone. I was confused too; usually it was the captain's job to tell the report.

Hideaki, however, didn't seem phased one bit. He just walked into the Hokage's office without a hint of emotion and not a word of protest. My eyes followed him until he entered the office and closed the door softly behind him. He was an interesting character.

I focused my attention back up to my uncle.

"Now," he said, looking at us with those deep, strong, blue orbs. "I want the Lord and the villager to stay here—"he was obviously talking about the leader and Akina"—and I want you ninjas to head on over to the hospital."

"Our wounds are pretty minor," I said firmly. He glanced at me and smirked.

"Well you'd be surprise how fast those 'minor wounds' can get infected," he said. I looked at him irritably.

"Hokage, we brought the criminal too," said Akimoto, pushing Samuru forward a bit, earning a menacing glare from the ninja. I saw interest flash through my uncle's eyes.

"Well, this is going to be an interesting report, isn't it?" he said. He preformed hand seals at a rapid pace that would tell you that he did this move at least a million times. Clouds filled the area, and in a second, there were two of him. I saw him use this move tons of times when he was training with my cousin, Hikari. It wasn't a fake clone, it was real.

"Alright, head him over to the ANBU, I'm sure they'll know where to put him until the time calls him forth," he said to his clone.

"Alright handsome," said the clone. They both grinned while all of us just gave them looks of disbelief. The clone dragged Samuru along with him.

"Alright," he said, looking back at us. "Head on over to the hospital and get those cuts checked out, hurry up."

We all glanced at each other but decided to take off anyways.

The hospital wasn't all that far away, my eyebrow raised when we entered, it sure had changed since I was last here, when my brother Lok pretended to be a bird and jumped off our roof and broke his leg.

Don't worry. We get that look a lot.

I glanced around the room. The room had a soft gray color and the floor had white tiles, I could hear my footsteps clack and echo as I walked on it. It was pretty big, but all hospitals were. When we walked up to the desk, we explained we just needed a quick clean-up and check-up.

The nurse behind the desk told us one of us could go in but the rest of us would have to wait awhile. We all decided we didn't care so we sent in Akimoto first.

Chido and Gai quickly made themselves comfortable by sitting in these big, comfy chairs. Haruko hesitantly sat next to them; she was going to regret that later. Gin was bouncing up and down on her feet, talking about Akimoto (big surprise there) and how she hoped he was going to be alright. Get a grip woman.

I was standing there and I shifted my weight to my other foot. I was just looking at the clock impatiently, this was really unnecessary. A few cuts weren't going to kill us. Besides, all I wanted was just to go home and see my family, this whole trip back home made me paranoid beyond belief about their safety.

I waited impatiently and tried tuning out Gin's annoyance. I wasn't really paying attention when suddenly somebody walked by and hit my shoulder on the way. I glared at the back of the guy's head.

"Hey, watch it," I snapped. He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. I knew at that moment my words were going to come back to haunt me when I saw he also was a Hyuuga. Even though the Hyuugas were a clan, and seven years ago, the curse seal was abandoned, the Branch House and Main House still lived in uneasy peace. The Hyuugas never really were a family; and I doubt it would start anytime soon. I knew I'd end up facing him again, but I didn't really care. "Also, you could apologize after that."

I expected him to just glare at me coldly, but instead, he just gave this cocky ass smile. For some reason, that smile irritated me more then what would've happened if he glared.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

They say kill people with kindness, but he was going way too far with that. I glared at him coldly. What a cocky bastard. He just laughed and turned around and continued on his way. I scoffed irritably under my breath, how annoying. What kind of Hyuuga acted like that? They were cocky, yeah, but he had such a big mouth.

"How annoying…" I muttered, I guess too loudly though.

"Don't worry," said Gin. "He bothers me too. He thinks he's god's gift to women, the flirt, yet out of all girls, he doesn't even say a word to me, he just calls me annoying and says I'm just some slut-whore."

So, he was smarter then he acted.

"You think he'd be hitting on me the most," she said. "After all, not only am I the prettiest girl in ANBU… or the world for that matter, but I'm in his squad."

"Wait," I said, looking at her. "He's in your squad?"

She looked confused a bit.

"Uhm… yeah, you deaf?"

"Wait, so that means his name is…"

"Yutaka?"

Wow, it really _was _going to come back to haunt me.

End of Chapter

RLN: Ah, things are going to get a heck lot more interesting now. Anyways, please review and I want to thank you guys. You really have supported me a lot. :)

Erk, also, if you spot mistakes, please tell me. I didn't reread it.


	11. Part 4: Rock Gai

RLN: Ugh. I had to write this a second time. The chapter was originally saved on a disk, and it got deleted. How annoying is that? But I finished and rewrote the chapter in between two and three chapters, it's only 8 pages but…

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 4: Rock Gai_

Chido was bouncing up and down in his chair. My patience with Chido has always been golden, but this was really beginning to get on my nerves. I knew Chido was going to get distracted by something else soon, he's the type that gets bored easily. The reason why it was so annoying was because it kept making this _Creak-Squeak_ noise. It kept going and going and going. _Creak-Squeak, Creak-Squeak, Creak-Squeak._ I glanced over to my other side and saw Haruko, wincing at every creak and squeak. Then she tries to ignore it and she focuses her attention to her nails.

Curious, I examined them as well, while trying my best to hide that I was taking interest. I was surprised. A shinobi worked hard, so most hands I saw (including my own) were rough, chipped and rusty. Her nails on the other hand were long, trim and shiny, but above all they were _clean_. It was hard enough just to find that trait.

I realized then when you focus your attention on somebody _else's _nails, and then you have to be really pathetic or just really bored.

But how could anybody blame me? Akimoto was taking forever and it was hard to keep yourself busy just by sitting in a waiting room. It was so boring.

So I switched my gaze elsewhere. I looked around the hospital. It was really big, but since we're a village that's pretty much based on fighting, I guess a huge hospital was necessary. I looked at the nurses who were talking to each other, whether it was about work, gossip, or just chat. Then there were the patients and then the visitors.

Everyone thinks that hospitals are depressing; I don't necessarily feel that way. Visitors come for their families and friends that are supporting and loving. Some are worried, but its still concern. I see a more love filled aura coming from these people then a solemn one, one that everybody expects. Maybe it's just me though.

"I wish Akimoto would come back," Gin said, as she made her way over here. She sat down in a chair near Haruko. Jia Li sat in a chair across from me. Was she paler then usual? It was like she saw a ghost or something.

Curious, I called to her. She jumped out of her thoughts and looked at me, and then she glared coldly. I was used to her ways, so I just ignored the icy stare.

"Are you okay?" I asked, more out of curiosity then concern. Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes narrowed further.

"Stop asking me such useless questions."

Oh yeah. How _dare I _ask if you were okay? How _dare I _show a bit of emotion and concern? How _dare I. _I should seriously stick my head in the oven for being a tad bit compassionate of my former teammate. I should beat myself with a bat and still feel unworthy. How _dare I._

Before I could retort, Haruko spoke for me.

"Well what crawled up your ass and died?" she spoke brashly. Then she faked a laugh. "Oh I forgot, you don't know what it's like when a guy is nice to you, it's all new."

"Don't worry Haruko, you'll mature, _eventually_," said Jia Li, rolling her eyes. Then Gin came in to the conversation.

"Mature all you want, _children_, just keep in mind I'm better and sexier then all of you," said Gin. Jia Li and Haruko scoffed in unison.

"No you're not!"

By now, Chido stopped bouncing in his chair like a toddler so he could listen.

"It doesn't take skill to be a useless airhead," said Jia Li. She then said in a mocking tone, "Oh my, a kunai is coming my way and it's going to kill me, maybe I should just stand here like a buffoon and scream so somebody else who actually works at their job can save me. And then maybe afterwards I can act like I saved everyone and then cling to some guy like I'm his bimbo gal-pal." Ooh, cold.

"Well that's because some of us actually like to be feminine, I'm not going to run around and get sweaty," said Gin, flipping her long, silver-blond tresses over her shoulder.

"Yeah, well, if MY life was in danger I think I'd work a bit to save my life!" Jia Li snapped hotly.

"Pffth, who cares about _your _life?" snorted Gin. Before Jia Li could form another word, Chido decided to step in.

"Ladies, ladies! Let's not get ahead of ourselves!" he exclaimed. I was a bit surprised, Chido was never the peacemaker. But then he said, "First let's get a mud pit, sell a few tickets and _then _you can claw each other's eyes out."

Bad move.

Bad, bad move.

It wasn't long before Chido was reduced to nothing but a beaten victim left to rot. At least we were in a hospital, that much I was thankful for.

"Well, it doesn't matter, because I'm the prettiest and we all know that I'm the best," said Gin in a snobbish tone.

"Whatever, beauty won't get you anywhere. Strength, hard work and intelligence are the only things that matter," said Jia Li.

"Says the girl with the bluntest looks," said Haruko. "Besides, I'm beautiful, intelligent and just as strong as you are, so there. I'm the best."

"Says who?" said Gin, crossing her arms.

"Says..." Haruko paused to think. "Gai! Right Gai?"

"Me?" I said.

"Yes, right Gai?" said Haruko in a more firm tone. All three girls glared at me, as if threatening me if I didn't pick them.

It was obvious not to pick Gin. She was air headed and rude and even if she did hate me for not picking her, it didn't matter because she was weak.

It was really a choice between Haruko and Jia Li, or, more literally, a choice between who I'd rather get pummeled by.

I could pick Haruko but I'd get killed by Jia Li for, not only for not picking her, but for picking her ultimate rival. She already hated me; she didn't need more reasons to kill me. Plus she was from one of Konoha's most powerful, if not the strongest, clan and a prodigy within it on top of that. Plus she was the daughter of Hyuuga Neji, one of the fiercest shinobi of our time and gained the title of Genius of Geniuses, and just so happened to be my father's rival. The man who was the most respected of the Hyuuga clan and even fought against the Hokage once. Then she was a weapons expert, a trait she carried from her mother, Tenten, who happens to be the most respected Kunoichi and mastered more weapons then any other ninja in history, and along with that she had effective intelligence of weapon history and expertise, skills in summoning weapons and chakra strings and is known for never missing her target. Both of them were pretty much legendary and famous for their abilities and strengths, they were some of the best taijutsu users, next to my father, and were almost unreal. They captured respect from everyone, including my father, who they also respected.

Wow, the lights must be on really high or something because I'm sweating like crazy.

Then there was Haruko. _Uchiha _Haruko, as in of the Uchiha clan, one of the most feared of Konoha. With blazing red sharingan eyes, Haruko can copy every move and even be able to predict others. She can analyze attacks, whether they are genjutsu or ninjutsu. As if that wasn't enough already, her father _was _Uchiha Sasuke, master of the sharingan and the man who swore and succeeded in killing the prodigy, his brother, the slaughterer of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Itachi. In the journey for power, the latter even betrayed Konoha to run off and become a pupil under Orochimaru, former legendary Sennin and former member of the infamous Akatsuki. He was one of the most feared men, within and outside of Konoha. Then there was her mother, Haruno Sakura, who was just as impressive. The woman who started out with nothing, no special bloodline, no clan but rose among the legends and became a great analyzer, tactician, medic nin who surpassed Tsunade and gained her mentor's skills in summoning slugs and achieving the ability to focus chakra so she could achieve super strength, and which I heard she used chakra to power up her moves long before Tsunade took her in. She was the one who took down Sasori, the feared member of the Akatsuki from Suna.

Jeez, it's _really _hot.

"Well?" all three girls said in unison.

"Uh..." I had to make a decision. "Haruko?"

"Ha!" said Haruko.

"It doesn't count, he likes you," said Jia Li. I flushed a bit. Was it that obvious?

"And you used to be his teammate, we're even," said Haruko, sticking out her tongue.

"Whatever," she said, sitting back down in her chair. I frowned a bit. I hope she wasn't too disappointed that I didn't pick her.

"It really was close," I told her.

"That's not the point. You're encouraging girls to be shallow and care more about looks then important things," was her response.

"Hey! I told you I was strong and smart too!" Haruko defended.

"Yeah, but it's not like you care about those things."

"I do too!" Haruko replied somewhat childishly. The girls then picked themselves back into another argument and I sighed heavily and looked away. A familiar character caught my eye. A tall woman with jade eyes, dressed in a doctor's uniform and short pink hair.

Well, I have to say the hair just gave it away.

She saw me too and walked over.

"Hey there," she said. She looked up over at the girls and had a puzzled expression on her face but then she turned her gaze back to me. "Naruto said you got yourself into quite a pickle. Then Haruko and Akimoto headed out on that mission to retrieve you and your friends."

"Yeah, we're here to get ourselves inspected and stuff," I replied. "I'm thankful though."

"Me too, I'm glad you're alright," she said. She smiled sincerely so I knew she wasn't just saying that to be polite. "Your father was really upset about it."

I sunk a bit at the mention of him.

"He was?"

"Yeah, well, he got a bit overdramatic about it," she said, she laughed. "I told him things would be alright, but he insisted that you were dead or something horrible like that. He was really upset, but you can't really blame him about it. You are his first son." Her laugh faded off. "I'm thankful though."

"Really?" I said, raising an eyebrow. "For what?"

"That was the first time Haruko's been on a mission for weeks," she explained. "She won't even go on D ranked ones, so why in Hokage's name she suddenly got motivation to go on an _A_ ranked mission bugged me. But then I realized, it must be you. She does know you, and it does bug a person's conscious when a person they know is in danger."

I was a bit flustered at that response.

"Yeah, well, I'm sure it was because of something else," I said. She winked.

"Who are you trying to convince? Me or you? Because you're flushing awful hard for a guy who thinks a pretty girl just came on a rescue mission for the sake of a mission..."

"Yeah, well—Uhm—I—"I was at lost for words, and I could feel the blood rush to my face and ears. She laughed at that.

Haruko, Jia Li and Gin stopped arguing (finally) to turn their attention to me and Sakura.

"Hey mom," said Haruko.

"Hello," she replied.

"Mom?" said Gin. "Then that means..." her face lit up. "Hello, Mrs. Uchiha! I'm Gin, I'm on Akimoto's squad, I'm sure you've heard all about me so—"

"Actually," she said. "I haven't heard anything about you." Gin blinked several times.

"Are you sure?"

"What's you name?"

"Gin."

"No... Nothing..."

"But that's impossible!" said Gin, forcing a laugh. "I mean I... I..."

"Sorry dear," said Sakura. She then turned to all of them. "Well, I have to go."

Haruko, Jia Li, and I were all trying not to smile as Gin was flabbergasted. The doctor then turned to me.

"And Gai, you deserve a lot more credit then you think," she said, winking again. I flushed again. Of course, I knew what she was talking about, but all the other girls seemed puzzled. Including, thankfully, Haruko.

But still, I wish my parents were that cool.

End of Chapter

RLN: The plot doesn't thicken much, other then Sakura hinting Gai about Haruko. XD Anyways, please review either way. :)

Also, this story has probably just passed 40000 words. Please excuse me while I faint.


	12. Part 4: Uchiha Akimoto

RLN: Ugh. Sorry for the wait. I've had it sitting in my computer forever and I haven't done diddly squat with it.

This is still eight pages on Word, without the author's notes that is, so it should be a decent length (for some of you). Plus there are a lot of words… (NO, I AM NOT GOING TO COUNT ALL OF THEM.)

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 4: Uchiha Akimoto_

I was the first to get inspected by the nurse, and here I was, sitting in the office and staring at the white tiles on the floor with half lidded eyes. I should've been done a long time ago, but for some reason the nurse decided to be late. I was getting tweaked, there were a lot of people to be inspected and then this person who was supposed to be a professional was late. Then the door opened, revealing the nurse.

I have to admit; at first glance I thought she was wasted. Her dark hair was messy and slightly tangled and she was looking at the floor, her bangs acting like a curtain to shield her face. Instead of wearing a uniform, she just wore baggy pants and a green hoodie. The only items she held were a clipboard and a pen attached to it.

"Sorry," she grumbled. "I fell asleep. So what do you need again...?"

"An inspection," I replied hesitantly. Her voice sounded somewhat familiar, so I guessed I met her before. After a second of thinking I wasn't all that surprised. Since my mother was a medic nin, I met a lot of her colleagues. Plus I was in ANBU, meaning I was in the hospital a lot. Still, I couldn't guess who she was, but as she walked in I finally realized she was a lot younger then I thought she was. She seemed only slightly older then me, that made me nervous.

"Are you a professional...?" I asked hesitantly, as she plopped down in a chair. She never even took her eyes off the floor.

"Pffth, I've been told," she drawled. "I'm a nurse in training, but everybody says I have a skill beyond my ranking. They say I could've graduated as a medic nin forever ago, but I was too lazy."

That wasn't too hard to believe.

"If I have so much skill, I don't understand why I'm doing dumb stuff," she said. She let out an un-amused laugh. "I don't get why everything has to be so complicated, maybe they're just overestimating me. Gah. So troublesome..."

I twitched at that. I heard that phrase so many times before; it was so familiar yet so foreign. My eyebrows furrowed as I concentrated on figuring out where I heard it before. I scanned through my memories and I came across hearing that phrase quite a few times, but mostly when I was younger and before I was in the academy. From who? I thought for awhile and came across the answer quickly. My mother had a best friend named Ino, her husband was Nara Shikamaru. Whenever they came by, they would usually bring their children. They had twins and whenever Ino was spending time talking to my mother, she ignored Shikamaru entirely, even as the twins were practically pummeling him. Often times he would curse about how his children and wife were so troublesome, which usually resulted in Ino screeching at him. But they didn't just have twins, they had an older daughter too, but she rarely came because she was in the academy. I had few memories of her, but I know she had her father's lazy personality and her mother's nagging abilities.

"Nara Mioshi?" I guessed aloud. She looked up from the floor and true enough, I guessed correctly. Her mother's blue eyes, her father's dark hair and overall, that lazy personality and blank, blunt look in her eyes. "Wow, I haven't seen you in forever."

"Yeah, now what are you in for?"

It was kind of cold meeting someone you knew as a child and then you have them ignore you completely when you reunite.

"Inspection," I said.

"Inspection?"

"Inspection," I confirmed.

A silence filled the air.

"So I was woken up for an inspection?" she said, cocking an eyebrow. I really hoped she wasn't going to complain, but she did. "Gah, what kind of idiots are running this place? I just lost some valuable sleep time. I don't see what's so important about a stupid inspection. I had a nice dream, but I guess I can never have a valuable sleep because life is cruel. Very cruel and very troublesome. Maybe I'll just become a hermit and live in the mountains, away from civilization and more importantly away from troublesome, annoying people..." This continued for quite awhile until Mioshi finally gave up on complaining.

"Okay, since this is my job, I'll start the inspection," she said, almost as if that entire rant never happened. "Are any bones broken?"

I stared at her for a moment, before realizing she was being serious. "No."

"Are you breathing?"

"Yes..."

"Are you in a coma?"

"No..."

"Then I guess my work here is done," she said, standing up.

"Wait a second, I sat in here waiting forever for an inspection and this is what I get? Three questions that had obvious answers?" I said hotly.

"Yep," she said carelessly.

"That was the worst inspection ever, you're supposed to check for cuts and scars and bruises that could be infected later on and could potentially put me in harm," I said. She turned around and stared at me with a hard look. It went on like that for awhile.

"You really, really want an inspection?" she asked in a monotonous voice. I didn't even have to answer. She sighed heavily. "Fine, as you wish. But if things don't go your way, which they probably won't, don't complain to me." She clicked her pen and placed it on her clipboard. I waited as she filled some things out.

It was silent with the exception of her pen. Once in awhile, she'd ask me a question such as what my blood type was but for the majority it was quiet. The silence was abrupt suddenly.

"Strip off your clothes."

At first, my brain didn't process what she said. I had to replay it again and again in my mind before I realized what she said.

"What?" was the only thing I could say.

"How the hell am I supposed to do an inspection of your body if I can't see it?" she said. She scoffed. "I told you things weren't going to go your way. But don't feel bad, you're not the only guy who got arrogant about it. When I finally give them a real inspection they always freak out." She then grumbled, "I filled this whole thing out for no reason, should've known."

For the sake of my health, I normally would've just done it. But stripping off your clothes in front of somebody you already have relations with (though not close ones) and happened to be around your age and wasn't a true professional was kind of...

"I'm not going to," I replied.

"I knew you weren't, they never do!" she said. Before she could go on about nagging and complaining again I spoke.

"Well, what am I going to do then?"

"I dunno."

"Can you get somebody else?"

"You want me to get somebody else?" she echoed, with a raised eyebrow. "Sure I can. You can either have a screaming fangirl or a _male_ nurse, which by the way will probably end up in the same result as the fangirl."

"You're joking right...?"

"I've been here for awhile and I notice things," she said firmly. She thought for a moment. "She's probably doing something busy, but I could look for your mom."

Oh yeah, my mother. That just makes it all the better.

"I'll skip it," I said. She shrugged.

"Whatever," she said. I was starting to think of what I should do. Scars and cuts you got in a battle weren't like ones you got when you fell on your knee. After being cut so low and being in the open for so long it could be infected, plus, shinobi really liked put nasty things on their kunai that weren't just limited to poison but some acids that could really affect you later. I knew this not only because I was a highly trained shinobi and my sister and mother were medic nins, but because I've seen it numerous times before. Before I could worry myself farther, Mioshi spoke.

"Searching for infections in your wounds isn't as difficult as everybody makes it out to be," she said. "Well, maybe it's just me. The Nara clan is pretty much surrounded in medical knowledge, plus I'm not exactly an air-head. But since you're somewhat intelligent--"Somewhat?"--and you have the blood of a medical ninja I guess it wouldn't be too long for you to figure out how to search."

"What are you saying? You're going to teach me how to take out poisons?"

"Again, real simple. And talent is supposed to run through your blood right?" she said. She paused. "Or you could just use your sharingan and save us a hell lot of time and trouble."

"Fine," I said. She glanced around the room. She sighed heavily.

"I hate hurting nature but here it goes," she murmured. She reached into a pouch that was hooked to her belt. She slipped out a vial and a metal senbon. The vial was a deep shade of purple, the look of it was morbid, and it was filled up only a fourth. The moment she opened the vial the smell that compared to Haruko's nail polish remover filled the room. It was a poison. She dipped the needle in the liquid and pulled it back up, proving that it was thick. She waited until is stopped dripping.

Looking absolutely grim, she held it up like a dart.

"Move," she commanded calmly, I did as told and watched as the needle flung across the room, out of the window and puncture the wing of a bird. I notice a string of chakra glimmer in the light for a moment, and realized it wrapped around the needles and her fingers. The bird squawked furiously as Mioshi jerked on the string and pulled brought back both the needle and the bird.

I don't care much for animals; I never have and probably never will, so I couldn't really connect with Mioshi. With the dark look on her face she probably did have more love for nature then I did. I guess it made sense, her parents were named after animals, her father and clan raises deer and her mother works in a flower shop.

I activated my sharingan as I observed. Mioshi placed her hand over the bird; she murmured the technique's name and used chakra to pull out the poison. It was a glowing, emerald energy and it looked like a bubble, the poison inside this bubble of chakra swam and floated around within it.

"How do you get rid of it?" I asked.

"You can dispose of it in the trash, but I wouldn't suggest it. If you do, just release the jutsu. I suggest waiting for the chakra to wear it away, the chemicals in poison aren't strong enough against chakra," she explained. We waited and around half a minute the poison was worn away and nothing was left. She released the jutsu, the chakra disintegrated through the air. She pulled the needle out of the bird's wing, and used Shousen jutsu to heal it.

Now that its wing was healed, the bird began flapping furiously. Mioshi held the bird tightly enough so it wouldn't escape but gently so the bird wouldn't be uncomfortable. She waited till she got to the window before letting go. The bird flew out immediately.

She tightened the vial's cap on before retreating it back to her back pouch.

"So there you have it. I'm sure your sister or mother can help you if you have problems," she said, as she headed out the door.

"So that's it?" I asked.

"What more do you want?" she asked irritably, looking at me with upset eyes. She then blushed. "I mean, what I meant was--sorry, it came out wrong. What do you need?"

"Nothing, I just expected more."

"More instructions? I told you it was simple with you sharin--"

"No, I meant more... I can't find a word for it. It's just that we knew each other so I kind of expected there to be more..."

"Connection?"

"I guess."

She paused. "We never had much of that in the first place. We may have known each other but we were never really friends. When I was at your house you were just training and practicing and we never even made it to school together. I was a year ahead of you and you only stayed at school for, what, a month? Then you were recognized for your talent and promoted to chuunin."

I thought for a moment. I've always been satisfied with the fact that I was a strong ninja; in fact, it made me beam with pride. I always knew I had lost the relations with my family ever since I became busy, but listening to Mioshi made me think. What else did I miss out on? What else have I lost?

"Tch, you're a troublesome guy. But if it makes you feel any better, I didn't feel so comfortable coming here in the first place. Truth is I knew you were my patient which is why I was trying to avoid eye contact as much as possible. You don't really get how annoying you get; listening to my colleagues is basically just listening to your fan club. Do me a favor and get married soon so I won't have to listen to them anymore... nah, what am I saying? They'll still be in denial. Pffth, if they knew how troublesome you really were maybe they wouldn't think so that much," she said, rubbing the back of her neck. I couldn't help but smirk. She really had changed much at all. She glanced at me irritably.

"What's with that cocky smirk? Ah, don't answer, I don't need to know." I heard her mutter something about boys being immature and then she left.

Yeah, no change at all.

I walked out of the room and I immediately saw another familiar face coming down the hall. It was Yutaka. He looked up and noticed me as well.

"What are you doing here?" I asked as I walked up to him. He paused briefly before replying.

"I should be asking you the same question," he said. He smirked. "Is the rookie going down?"

Yutaka and Hideaki had this habit of calling me rookie. It was actually Hideaki who started it; he made it into ANBU a year and a half before I did. Although Yutaka didn't have the right to say it, since he made it in ANBU a year after I did, he got away with it because I was still two years younger then him. In ANBU, it didn't matter how strong you were, but how much experience you had (which, in most times, the one with most experience was the strongest anyways). Although I grabbed the rank Chuunin before both Hideaki and Yutaka, it didn't make much of a difference because I skipped an entire rank. Although it was impressive, it still meant I missed out on a lot of techniques they were taught. Plus, experience was measured in years, not battles.

Although 'rookie' was supposed to be used in a mocking tone, I eventually got over it and it became pretty much my second name. Besides, I had worse titles (Itachi). Plus, I wasn't the only one with a nickname.

Yutaka and I called Hideaki 'apprentice' because he coveted the title as leader more then any of us. So taking a stab at the position pretty much insulted him more then anything. Even though Yutaka and I got used to our nicknames, Hideaki was still pissed about the one he ended up with.

Yutaka's nickname was 'outcast'. Compare him to the other Hyuugas and you'll understand why. He's a lot more cockier, brash and louder then the other Hyuugas. However, Yutaka didn't seem as offended by the title as Hideaki and I were. In fact, I think he kind of liked it.

We all had a nickname for Gin too, but we never said it to her face.

Actually, we had multiple nicknames for her. 'Harpy' being an example.

"Sorry Yutaka, but no," I replied.

"Apprentice went on the mission too. Where is he? I saw the rest of your team in the waiting room," he said.

"Hideaki is giving a report to the Hokage," I said, then somewhat bitterly.

"Really? So what happened?" he asked raising an eyebrow.

I explained everything. From gathering the ninja (for some reason he twitched when I said I brought Jia Li along) and then how we split up, how Hideaki and I went for the two missing nin (I decided not to mention Hideaki objecting everything I suggested, since Yutaka knew well) and how Jia Li met up with us later. I mentioned how we brought back Samuru and what he told us. It was quiet for a moment.

"Holy shit."

Exhibit A on why we call Yutaka outcast.

"I thought it was going to be another one of those lame missions that were over ranked, but shit was I wrong," said Yutaka, blinking several times. "So is there a war coming on?"

"Seems possible. But keep in mind nothing is official until the Kages talk about it. If there is one, there'll be a meeting," I said. When a war was approaching, the leaders of the village would have a meeting before it was official. The most loyal shinobi as well as some of the strongest would enter the meeting as well. Before we had a war with the Earth country, I made it to the meeting so I'd probably make it in there again.

It was rare for a shinobi to make it into ANBU when he was older, even if he was only twenty. One, because you had to undergo a strict training before you qualify and most people, whether too young or too old, could finish it without giving up. And two, because most of them were dead before they could stay long.

But even rarer then that was to make it into ANBU when you were young.

Yutaka, Hideaki and I all started out in the ANBU young. I started when I was eleven, Hideaki made it when he was _nearly_ fourteen (he still made it a year before I did) and Yutaka made it when he was fourteen (a year after me). It was rare enough to make it that young, because the average shinobi became genin when he was twelve. That genin would have to wait about seven months for the chuunin exams, and even then he would have to past it the first time to complete ANBU training, which took forever even for me.

Actually, Hideaki and I sort of cheated. Yutaka had to go through all of that but not us. We were both sons of the _Infamous 12_.

The _Infamous 12_, or more like _The Infamous 15 _if you include the Kazekage and his brother and sister, was a group of shinobi who pretty much made Konoha history for taking part in the decline of the Akatsuki and taking part in the Leaf-Sound war. Hideaki was the son of Aburame Shino and I, of course, was the son of Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura.

It was that that made us have close ties with the Hokage. He saw our potential more then any other shinobi so we pretty much lucked out.

Even if the _Infamous 12_ didn't include the Hokage, we probably still would've been noticed. After all, Aburame Shino ended up becoming (and is still) leader of the Aburame clan, since he was the Aburame prodigy and deserved the position most and because he was the closest to the position since the upper heads of the clan were wiped out in the Leaf-Sound war.

And I, after all, was the son of _two _people from the second generation of the Legendary Sennin. Plus they were the Hokage's former teammates and were best friends with him. Then there was the fact that my father was head of the Uchiha clan and my mother was probably the world's best medical nin.

When I thought about it, I just realized that I was pretty much royalty. That and everybody I knew.

Gai was son of Rock Lee.

Jia Li, from what I know, is daughter of Hyuuga Neji and Tenten.

Mioshi is daughter of Nara Shikamaru and Yamanaka Ino.

Hideaki is obviously Aburame Shino's son.

And the rookie nine of this year were all sons and daughters of the _Infamous 12 _(with the exception of two).

Without that power I was pretty much nothing. At least, that's what it seemed like.

I was right. I have missed out on a lot. Friends, family, and for the sake of nothing but power that I was already born with. But it isn't that big of a deal. I can still make up for it. And make a better name for myself.

End of Chapter

RLN: In case you haven't been reading my other story, Stranded with Idiots, I'm coming up with this idea for putting up AMVs every week on my profile page. I have a new one up there, it's my second one. Be sure to see both! If you missed the first one, just ask for it and I'll give you the link.

Oh. And please review. And, if you notice mistakes, please try and tell me what and where they are. If you say 'you worded this one sentence wrong' then please tell me where it is and I'll fix it. If you don't tell me where it is, I can't fix it, unless I have the time and patience to read through the entire chapter to find it. And guess what? I don't have the time and patience.

Also, I have links to my DeviantArt page so you can see my drawings of some of the characters. But think twice before you go to them. You should be able to imagine the characters the way you feel more comfortable with. Looking at these pictures is seeing how they're _supposed _to look, not the way you _want _them to look. I haven't uploaded my picture of Mioshi, Hideaki, Chido or Akina, but I think you can manage.

Also, the pictures aren't the best quality. They were tons better before I scanned and colored them. Plus, I can't always get things on paper the way I imagine them. Plus, I didn't feel like designing Yutaka, Gin and Akimoto's clothes so I just threw them in ANBU uniforms. Plus open canvas isn't the best tool to color with a mouse. So they really suck. I warned you.

Yutaka and Jia Li- http (colon) (double slash) www (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) deviation (slash) 31078853 (slash)

Akimoto and Haruko- http (colon) (double slash) www (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) deviation (slash) 31124784 (slash)

Gai- http (colon) (double slash) www (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) deviation (slash) 31347494 (slash)

Gin- http (colon) (double slash) www (dot) deviantart (dot) com (slash) deviation (slash) 31251624 (slash)

Be warned. DeviantArt sometimes takes forever to load pages. Also, please visit AFTER you review. If you have comments on the pictures leave it on DA or PM me. I don't want them mixed with the reviews. Plus, people usually forget to come back to review.

Remember. AMV. DA. Review. Get it? Got it? Good.


	13. Part 5: Hyuuga Jia Li

RLN: Writing through Jia Li's point of view, or sometimes Akimoto's, is hard. Why? Because of the byakugan and sharingan. It's hard to describe what it'd be like to look through it. Because one, I obviously never had it and two I'm not the one who created it. It's such a toughie. :(

Ugh, sorry this chapter took so long. I really had nothing planned for it. I have an idea what to do for the next two chapters, but...

Yeah, I was _so_ stuck with writer's block that this chapter actually has_ the first scene change_. WOW. But don't expect much more of those in the future.

Enjoy.

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 5: Hyuuga Jia Li_

I was aware that I was pretty much screwed over. I mean, I just insulted my future husband and mistook him for another stuck-up, snooty Hyuuga. Well, he was a stuck-up snooty Hyuuga but that was beside the point. Why do I always mess things up? God, if I wasn't so freaking arrogant all the time... then again he deserved it. I mean what was with that cocky smile? I hate people who are full of themselves.

It was a long period of time before Akimoto came back. As usual, Gin went crazy. And as usual, the guy tried ignoring her. I knew Gin only for a little while and I already hated her with a burning passion, but to be bugged by her all the time... that's something I would never wish on anybody. Not even Haruko. Again, you had to feel sorry for Akimoto. For a girl who was already fourteen, you think she would've had _some _skills. You also think she would've gotten _some _common sense.

Things went faster from then on. Gai and Chido were inspected next, since they got more damage then any of us. Of course, why Akimoto was picked to go first still bothered me.

"So are you alright?" I heard Gin say.

"I'm fine," I heard Akimoto with a grunt.

"Are you sure?"

I heard Akimoto sigh irritably. I really didn't get it at all. All of us are hurt and she doesn't give two shits about us, but then Akimoto gets scratched up and then the world is coming to an end. I'm thinking I'm beginning to hate Akimoto through Gin. It's not his fault, but I just wish he didn't have to be around for me to have to listen to Gin. It was taking them awhile, Chido and Gai getting inspected that is. I looked at my arms, which were scratched up and bruised. I frowned slightly, remembering how I got them. I sighed. I eventually got bored of waiting and wondered if I could check them myself.

It was worth a shot.

"Byakugan," I whispered. A felt a tremendous pulse in my veins and my vision switched to black and white. It was like looking through a super x-ray, people were replaced with skeletons, only with the organs, the circulatory system and chakra coil system shown as well.

I never heard of anyone checking for poisons and dangerous acids with the byakugan, and soon I understood why. I could see my bones, my chakra system, my veins and arteries but saw no sign of any poison or anything else.

But what was I supposed to be looking for? I wasn't a medic nin, I only had a basic understanding of medical knowledge. When you're a Hyuuga, you have to study a bit about the body. You had to study some anatomy, the organs and their functions and you pretty much had to memorize the chakra system. The Byakugan's fighting style was basically built on some basic medical knowledge, which is why some Hyuugas made it big in the medical field after only a couple years--sometimes only months--of medical training. After all, you had to stop organs from working and had to block tenketsu, so understanding the body was important.

Anyways, even if there was poison or anything like that, I couldn't see it. I closed my eyes and deactivated the tenketsu around my eyes. I traced my fingers over my temples and felt only a smooth surface. My vision had switched back to normal.

It was pointless. I was stuck here.

I sighed in defeat.

Haruko was also being inspected by the moment. She threatened Akimoto if he left without her then she'd 'punch the living daylights out of him'. I somewhat doubted she could, since he was in ANBU, but either way Akimoto stayed behind. I guess it was a good thing, since Haruko probably would've thrown a pointless hissy fit if he left.

I sunk in my chair. What in Konoha have I done to be sitting here with a bunch of people I hated?

That's when Chido, Gai and Haruko approached toward us.

"The nurse said she'll inspect you, Jia Li. She's in room 4056," Chido said, once he made his place in front of our little group. I stood up to leave, when Akimoto spoke.

"Wait a second. Before anybody leaves, I think you all have the right to understand what's going on and what exactly happened on our mission," he said. I froze in my spot. I sighed heavily and replied without even looking back at him.

"You really think that's a good idea? They're going to find out anyways."

Even without looking I could tell he was glaring at me, just by the feel of heavy eyes on me.

"Better now then later. Plus, I think they should realize what they have just accomplished."

Everyone looked oblivious to what was going on, especially Chido with that stupid expression on his face.

"Go ahead," I said with a sigh. As much as I hated to admit it, he was right--in some ways. Plus, he probably would've done it his way no matter what I said or did to stop him.

He explained everything. I didn't focus my attention on his words, but more like the looks on everyone's faces. I saw how drastically their expressions changed when Akimoto started talking about how a war might start. I compared their expressions to their earlier looks. Things became very serious and the tension became very real all very quickly. I wasn't too satisfied with this. After Akimoto finished, an ominous silence filled the air. I made the first movement and got up.

There was nothing to say to ease the mood. Not even one of Chido's jokes or comic relief moments could really help here, the situation was pretty grave. I decided to just head over to room 4056, just to leave. There was nothing I could do and I had places to go.

(_- - -_)

After my inspection--I was clear and okay, so I waited for nothing--I headed home. I was approaching my house when I saw two figures standing outside the house. I couldn't make out who they were, but when I got closer I came close to turning around and going to other way when I realized who they were.

The figure on the left was a girl, whose hair was put in a strict braid. Her name was Suzume, and like her appearance, she lived in a very strict, organized way and had little tolerance for 'fun lovers'. She wasn't exactly my--or anybody else's for that matter--cup of tea.

The girl on the right was different. Her appearance on the other hand was the complete opposite. Her hair was down and free and her clothes were pretty stylish. However, I had more distaste for her then Suzume. She was snobby, envious, controlling, arrogant and above all just plain spoiled. Her name was Tsuya, and she was, frankly, a real bitch.

Since all of our fathers had high positions--my father was an important representative of the branch house--we saw each other often at meetings, and since we were all girls and around the same age, we ended up talking to each other a lot. There was no doubt they were going to try and talk to me.

"Jia Li! Come over here!"

Lucky me.

I walked up to Tsuya and Suzume. Suzume had that usual emotionless stare in her eyes while Tsuya had this strange look on her face... like, she was happy or something.

But Tsuya was only happy when she got to burst somebody's bubble, mostly mine, since she obviously disliked me.

She tapped her bottom lip with this gleeful--yet somewhat sadistic but not dangerous--look in her eyes. She turned her head to the left, as if she was trying to be cutesy. Oh crap, this _can't_ be good.

"So, I heard through the grapevine that someone's _engaged_?"

Crap. I was right.

"Not officially," I said. I tried my best to keep my composure. She didn't seem phased by my comment. I said cautiously, "And how do you know?" Jeez, my little brother Lok wasn't running around screaming the news, was he? Well, it wouldn't be the _first_ time he did something like that...

"A little bird told me."

"More like Taro," said Suzume bluntly. Tsuya glared at her. Taro was Tsuya's man slave—I mean her also arranged fiancé.

"What exactly did you hear?" I said slowly.

"Not much," Tsuya admitted bitterly, her nose wrinkling as her eyes narrowed. "Taro basically just overheard them—"in other words, eavesdropped like a child"—talking. Taro said somebody came up to your father with an arrangement for you to marry his son. So, who's the poor schlub?"

"_Me_," I said bitterly. Then I answered, though hesitantly, "His name is Yutaka." Tsuya's earlier smug look vanished instantly. Her expression was replaced with a shocked one. Her eyebrows rose and her eyes widened, it was almost comical.

"How unfortunate for you," Suzume said with a sigh, though she said it very bluntly. "I feel sorry. I really do."

"More like unfortunate for Yutaka!" Tsuya exclaimed, as if I wasn't standing right there in front of her. She crossed her arms and glared at me, look positively annoyed. "You should consider yourself lucky, Jia Li. Stop moping around and be happy already!"

"Lucky for what?" Suzume and I said in unison.

Suzume added, "Yutaka represents both ANBU and the Hyuuga clan, and he's terrible at the job. He's just some cocky playboy who's much too full of himself. And the fact he's in such a high position makes it worse; he's a bad example of our village. Thank goodness he has an older brother; otherwise he'd be in the council and make fools of this entire clan."

"Oh shut up," Tsuya snapped. "That may be true, but I'd rather have Yutaka then Taro any day. And that's not the only reason why she's lucky. How many people in the Branch House actually get to make it into the Main house? Little to none!"

"What?" I said dumbly.

"Yutaka's in the Main House, _sweetie_, and if you marry him you're basically marrying into the Main house. How do you get such a reputation for being smart if you can't even figure _that_ out?" Tsuya said bitterly. I glared at her.

"I knew_ that_, I just never thought of that way," I said coolly.

"_Don't_ think of it that way. Being in the Main house means nothing if you have to marry that kid," Suzume muttered. Tsuya looked like she was going to say something, but then Suzume quickly added, "And yes, he's a kid. He's as loud, cocky and frankly as _annoying_ as a kid."

"Stop looking at the negatives!" Tsuya snapped at Suzume.

"Then stop ignoring them," Suzume retorted, her eyes narrowing. Tsuya ignored her and went on.

"Take a look at the positives for once. You're going to be in the Main house, you'll have a high position, your husband will be hot and you're actually going to be married! Trust me, you were _never_ going to have that before," said Tsuya. I felt like hitting her for a second. "Keep in mind it's practically impossible to be in the Hyuuga family without getting married _one way_ or another. The council is obsessed with having a new, large and strong generation of the Hyuuga clan. Take a grand piece of advice from me: take Yutaka now or you'll end up with a guy like Taro; a guy who doesn't give a crap about anything and will do whatever you want just so you'll get the hell away from him." But then she muttered, "Though, it is nice to be able to get what you want without having to argue about it..."

"Good points, I'll admit, but still... I stick to my belief that Yutaka should die single," said Suzume. With a thoughtful face she added, "And unhappy."

"Keep in mind nothing is official yet," I reminded them.

"Then make it official!" Tsuya snapped. I glared at her.

"Who said I _wanted_ it to be official?"

"Of course you want it to be official!" That word was getting annoying. "Come on! The positives go way past the negatives here!" said Tsuya.

"No offense, but you don't really know much about me. I can't expect you guys to understand how my ways work and go," I said.

"I know this may shock you, but I don't really like you," said Tsuya. Oh, what a surprise. I'm _so_ shocked. "But as a nice person, I'm going to say this: you'll be much happier if you actually had some power, because honestly, as long as you're in the Branch house it doesn't matter how talented you are or who your parents are. Nothing you say accounts to anything."

I glared at her. "I'll keep that in mind." _Not._

"You _should_," she said, glaring back. "And if you insist on not taking him, your loss. I'd be happy to trade with you, any day. Just talk to me."

"Are we still talking about real people here? Or pieces of property?" Suzume muttered, but Tsuya and I ignored her both.

I walked—almost stomped—past them; I just really wanted to be at home. Even though I walked quickly, I still heard Tsuya behind me.

"She really needs to appreciate the things being thrown at her."

_I'd appreciate my kunai being thrown at you, _I thought angrily. I couldn't help but smile slightly at the mental image.

End of Chapter

RLN: Uhm, wow. I can't say I like this chapter; then again, I never quite planned something for this chapter. So what can I say, really?

Anywho, the next chapter will be quite the opposite. I have plenty planned for Gai's part, so prepare for two, maybe even three, surprises. I have sort of an idea what to do for Akimoto's, but it may change depending on how things work out, and my ideas might be delayed for much later chapters. If that's the case, then I have no idea in hell what I'm going to do for the next part. ARGH.

Yeah, Jia Li wasn't with the others after Akimoto explained what happened during the mission, she left to get checked by the nurse. I said that to clear things up, because in the next chapter, Gai _is_ leaving at the same time as the others. Don't worry, I'll remind you. :D

Since I have everything planned out, writing the next chapter will be a lot smoother and it will come faster.

As for Tsuya and Suzume... I wanted to introduce more Hyuuga characters, however, they want be appearing much. Consider that good or bad.

What to say now? Uhm... sorry for the short length... and uhm, please review (as if you haven't heard that before)!


	14. Part 5: Rock Gai

RLN: Uhm... yeah, you know how I said this update would come quicker?

Yeah, I guess I lied. I mean, it's been practically five months. For that, I'm _extremely_ sorry. Dx

I was looking at some of the earlier chapters… Wow, there are so many glitches in this story. I'll be going through and editing them out later on.

And again, remember that this scene starts out in the hospital.

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 5: Rock Gai_

Shock rippled through me and the others around like a pebble dropping into a pond, slowly affecting everything around or in this case, everyone around. I barely noticed Jia Li getting up and walking away.

If a war started, this could change everything. It was questionable enough why anybody would want to go to war with Konoha in the first place; Konoha was one of the most powerful of the ninja nations. And fighting over some old grudge? That was even more unbelievable. I came close to asking Akimoto if he was just joking around, but I knew better.

"I just thought it'd be right for all of you to know," was all Akimoto said. Shortly after he added, "We should probably leave now." I wondered if he was worried at all, because his voice was calm and steady.

"I don't even know what to say," said Haruko, blinking.

"Maybe we shouldn't worry about it. I mean, nothing's official, right?" said Chido, but the tense and nervous tone in his voice said otherwise.

"Not until the Raikage and Hokage have a meeting to discuss it," I managed to say. It was true. War couldn't be declared yet.

"The chances are great, though," Akimoto said. "We will be at war. Again."

Konoha was in a previous war, one that had just ended only five years ago. It was a good thing Suna was our ally, otherwise I personally would've been even more of a wreck.

"But if we go at war, then I'll have to go on more missions," Gin protested.

Haruko rolled her eyes. "A bunch of people are going to die and the only thing that's bothering you is that you have to go on more missions."

"No," Gin replied, her eyes narrowing. "That bothers me too." She said it, but she failed to say anything to back it up.

"Look, the only thing we can do is not worry about it," Akimoto said calmly. "Things will be sorted out. If we go to war, it's inescapable. Then all we can do is fight for Konoha. But for now we can't freak out." With that said, he got up and left. Gin quickly followed after him.

There was a brief pause. Then, Haruko spoke up. "Well, good work, guys!" she shouted enthusiastically. All Chido and I could do was stare for a couple of moments.

"Well," Chido said finally, breaking the silence. "We didn't really do anything. In the end, we had to be saved by you and the others."

Haruko shrugged. "Then do better next time. Train harder."

"Yeah, you're right," I said. "Thanks anyways."

"No problem," she said. Then she smiled. I blushed slightly. She was really pretty when she smiled. And with that she ran after her brother so she could walk with him home.

Chido and I started heading home as well. Our houses were close by so we walked together. We talked briefly, but tried not to say anything too serious.

For a short time there was silence, but then I finally said something that was in the back of my mind since we left the hospital. "You know that last thing Haruko said?"

"What thing? The 'try harder' thing?"

"Yeah, that's it. I think she was right. Konoha could be at war again. And even though we were both chuunin, we couldn't help ourselves on that mission. We should be training harder."

Chido gave this some thought for a moment. "I don't know. This mission was a lot harder than what we expected. I don't really think it was us."

I rolled my eyes at that. "Oh come on. We're so lazy we only train when we want to. A shinobi should train everyday."

"Maybe that's true. So you can go ahead and train and I'll have an actual life," he replied. Then he paused. "Okay, now I see what you mean. Maybe we should try harder." He grinned. "Maybe we should try out for the Jounin exams."

I knew it was a joke, but that really hit me. We _should_ be joining the Jounin exams.

I must've been making a serious look, because Chido seemed to be taken back. "Whoa, I was kidding. I wasn't seriously thinking about that."

"Why not? We should be at least _trying_ to join already. Akimoto's an ANBU, for crying out lot. And we haven't even thought of joining the Jounin exams," I said. I tried not to sound too serious, but it was hard not to.

"But Akimoto's weird," Chido protested. "He doesn't think about anything but his ninja career. I might have the motivation to train, but I don't have the motivation to try out for the Jounin exams."

"Well what will get you motivated?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowing. "We both need to be more serious about being shinobi."

All he did was laugh. "Let's stop with this. I don't like talking about serious things, they bore me. Besides, I don't need to work hard." He grinned. "I'm a better ninja than you anyways!"

It was my turn to grin. "Yeah, right."

Then he looked as though an idea had hit him. "Okay, fine. If you're going to be like that, we should be rivals!"

I blinked twice. "Do you mean crazy, hot-blooded, murderous rivals?"

"No, I don't mean we have to get serious and psychopathic about it," he said, laughing. "I mean, we should be rivals when it comes to seeing who's stronger."

I had to admit that, for once, Chido had a good idea. "Okay, fine. But we also have to try out for the Jounin exams," I said.

He hesitated. "Alright, we will. But I don't get why you're so bent on becoming a Jounin, anyways."

I just shrugged.

Truth was I really didn't know _why_ that idea appealed to me so much. I guess I just felt that that would probably be the next best step. And the more I thought about being a Jounin, the more it seemed right. I _should_ be a Jounin.

Eventually I got to my house. I stepped inside. I didn't hear anyone or anything. I called for my parents and brother and sister. At first, I got no response. Then my younger sister Kameko had stepped out of her room. She looked over at me and then her eyebrows rose.

"Oh, Gai!" she said. "You're okay!"

"Of course I am," I said.

She smiled genuinely. "That's good. We were all worried about you."

I shrugged. "You guys don't have to worry. I was fine."

She blinked several times. "Didn't they have to send a rescue team?"

"Well—uhm…" I was at lost for words. "S-So? I was still okay."

"Yeah," she said slowly, her eyebrows furrowing slightly.

I decided to quickly change the subject. "So," I started. "Where is everybody?"

"Oh! Mom is visiting some friends. I forgot who. Toyo—"she was talking about our little brother"—is at school still. And dad should be back any second. We were planning on doing some training."

I flashbacked to the mission, where I had failed to perform a taijutsu technique correctly. "How are you, in your training, I mean."

She shrugged. "Okay, I guess. "But I'm going to have to try harder. The Chuunin exams are coming soon, real soon."

I thought for a moment and realized she was right. The Chuunin exams would be starting in about a month, meaning after that was over, the Jounin exams would come soon after. I had to prepare as well, if I really wanted to be in the exams.

"Well, I think I've been making progress," she said. But then she smiled grimly. "But I still have a long way to go."

I loved my sister a lot, but if there was one thing that was wrong with her, it'd be her lack of confidence. I don't quite understand where she gets all this negativity from, especially since our dad was the optimistic and happy fool, but wherever it popped out of, it needed to go away.

We talked a bit more about the chuunin exams, but then the door swung open. I turned around and not only saw my dad, but his former mentor Maito Gai.

The funny thing is, my dad always takes charge and preaches silly lessons about youth to everyone, but whenever he's around his former teacher, he always starts acting like a student again.

Frankly, I like it better when he preaches about youth. My dad was weird, but his teacher was weirder.

"Ah! It's Gai Jr.!" My dad's teacher had this habit of calling me 'Junior' or 'Gai Jr.' since we had the same name but I was younger, and I had a habit of trying not to make it seem like it annoyed me.

"Gai, you're alright!" Lee exclaimed. He then laughed. "Well, of course you are. I knew you would be!"

What was my sister saying about everyone worrying about me…?

My dad then turned to Kameko. "Ready to go train?"

"Of course she is!" Gai exclaimed enthusiastically.

"Actually," said Kameko. "I still have to get my equipment. Sorry. I'll be right back. Sorry, again." That was Kameko's habit: apologizing. She ran upstairs.

"So how did the mission go?" For once, my dad didn't shout.

"It was alright."

"What do you mean, Junior?" Gai shouted. I resisted the urge to twitch at the word 'Junior'. "Missions don't just go 'OKAY' or 'ALRIGHT'. They're great! Now tell me what you've learned from this experience?"

Normally, I would've shoved it right back in his face and say I learned nothing, but this time I actually decided to stop and think about it for a moment.

What did I learn? What was I supposed to say, I sucked?

I reflected back to win I was talking with Chido. I had the answer right there. I needed to work harder.

"I learned I'm not as strong as I thought I was. I need to train more," I said finally.

"Well, that's good news. At least you know you need to improve," my dad said, nodding.

"Exactly!" Gai exclaimed. Then he did that loud laugh he always does.

I thought for a moment, and I realized something. I knew I'd probably regret it in the future, but I needed to try and find ways to get better. So I proposed my idea.

"Uhm, dad… I know this is kind of stupid, but I want you to start teaching me again. It's just that I want to get into the Jounin exams and—"

"What?" he exclaimed so loudly I thought my ears were going to fall off. He and his teacher had these big stupid grins on their faces.

I inwardly groaned. I _was_ going to regret it.

"That's great!" he shouted again. "Gai-Sensei and I will both train you!"

_Okay_, I decided in my head. _Sure, you'll have to listen to these idiots yap about youth, and yeah, you'll have to be called Junior 24/7, but it'll be worth it. Come Jounin exams, and you'll be ready. Besides, all you're doing is training. It's not like you're going to have to dress like them or anything…_

"You know what this means, right, Lee?"

"That I'm finally going to reconnect with my son and guide him away from his rebellious state?"

He _did_ realize I was standing right in front of him, right?

"I'm not rebellious!" I retorted.

They ignored me and went on with their conversation.

"No, Lee! Well, actually, yes. It does mean that… but that's not all! While we're leading him away from his rebellious state—"I was going to argue again, but I realized my words would be futile"—we can change his attitude on life! He will be gloomy no more!"

"'_Gloomy_'? What do you mean by '_gloomy_'?" I asked, irritated.

"Well Gai Jr.," he started and, once again, I twitched. "No offense, but you're not exactly a happy person." I guess since jumping up and down and smiling all the time is what he considered normal, then I suppose if you wanted to seem happy through his eyes, you'd have to act like an idiot and lose half your brain cells. "In fact, sometimes I wonder if you're Lee's son at all and not Neji's."

So basically I was the equivalent of Jia Li…?

"…I'm not _that_ bad."

"Well look, let's drop the subject!" my dad exclaimed. "The important thing is that we're going to be able to teach you again! And that means…" He took off his backpack and reached inside, and then whipped out a green article of clothing. I recognized it immediately.

"What are you doing with spandex?"

"I'm giving this to you! We'll all match!"

I wasn't sure if I was more horrified by the fact that my father actually wanted me to wear something so hideous out in public or if I was more concerned by the fact he kept a pair of spandex with him in his backpack.

"What? No way!"

"Well, how do you expect to train if you don't wear them?"

"I'll train without wearing spandex!"

"If you don't wear the spandex, then what are you going to wear? I mean, don't tell me you'd rather run around in your boxers than simply train in this!"

"I would! That thing is hideous and cheesy!"

"WHAT? How can you insult spandex? Do you have any idea how useful it is when training? You can't possibly train without them!"

"You know what? That's it! I changed my mind! I don't care if I stay a chuunin forever! I'm not wearing it!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"Quiet!" Gai barked. "I suppose Junior here really won't wear them. Why? I don't know. Maybe it's a teenager thing. But whatever it is, fact is he won't. I guess we should be happy either way."

"Yeah, I suppose that's true…" my dad finally admitted. "But just for the record, son, it's going to be a lot harder without it!"

"Don't worry dad. I'll survive," I said, rolling my eyes.

Though, in truth, I wasn't sure if I would be able to survive. After all, I'd probably be training with these two for a long, long time…

End of Chapter

RLN: Rock Gai is a brave person.

I know this is a bad move on my part, but I didn't reread it thoroughly. If you notice any mistakes, please try to tell me where they are.

Again, sorry for the slow update. I've just been lazy. I have no excuses.

I updated my DA gallery. If you're wondering what Kameko looks like, this is a drawing of an older version of her: www dot deviantart dot com/deviation/42969717/


	15. Part 5: Uchiha Akimoto

RLN: I just sort of realized that new readers of this story must have a _really_ hard time remembering all the characters. So if you're one of those people, I made a characters page for my Future Geniuses website (yes, I have a website for it!).

Open up a new window and type: h t t p / w w w . f r e e w e b s . c o m /c h a r a c t e r s . h t m

But without the spaces, obviously. Sorry for the crappy looking pictures, I'll post better ones later. Be sure to look around the site, too. I made a forum.

I also have two other sites. All the links are on my profile, check it out later.

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 5: Uchiha Akimoto_

Two weeks has passed since my last mission. All of Konohagakure was well-informed of the events that happened on that last mission, the one that could lead to the potential of war, but this information was not released to anywhere else in the Fire Country. No war was confirmed, and we weren't going to startle them with information that could end up being false. However, two messages were sent. One to Suna, another for Kumogakure—both just sent a couple of days ago. It would only be a matter of time before we received responses from both sides.

We could end up having a meeting between three of the greatest shinobi-nations.

Being in a high position, I was given a lot of information. Things lately, though, were slow. No missions. No responses. Nothing. All I could do was train until something came up. It made me feel like I was accomplishing nothing, and even though I wasn't in a _bad_ mood, I think it's safe to say things were pretty gloomy.

I was relieved, though, at the fact that I wasn't the only one who felt this way.

"Anybody else seriously bored out of their mind?" Yutaka said, suddenly stopping his process of using a kunai to slice a marshmallow-shaped dummy with a frowning-face painted on it (all of the credit to the 'beautiful artwork' went to Yutaka himself). Hideaki and I both stopped in our process of training to look over at him. Gin looked away from whatever she was distracted by to look at Yutaka as well.

"What do you mean?" I said, though I was perfectly aware what.

"I mean _nothing's_ been going on," he said, looking annoyed. "I haven't been on a mission forever."

"Well, lucky you," said Gin, rolling her eyes. "I'd rather do nothing than go on a stupid mission."

Yutaka frowned. "What's the difference? You don't do anything on 'stupid missions' anyways."

Gin glared at him but said nothing more.

"There's no point in complaining about it," said Hideaki. "Missions will come, it'll just be awhile before they do." He looked as though he was about to resume his training, but Yutaka responded so he wasn't able to.

"That still doesn't change the fact I'm bored out of my freaking mind. I can only train so much."

"I'm sick of it too," I admitted. "But it's the best we can do right now." I didn't expect him to believe me, I didn't even convince myself. But with a heavy sigh, he went back to butchering the frowning marshmallow-dummy.

I was about to resume my training too (which was exercises), but suddenly I heard Gin groan loudly and somewhat overdramatically.

We all turned to stare at her (which was more like glaring, actually), wondering what bothered her.

However, there was no reason to ask. Yutaka was the first to point it out.

"Is that Keiko?" he asked.

A girl with short, dark hair was across the training grounds, talking to a big-looking man. I recognized the girl immediately, it was, as Yutaka said, Keiko.

For some reason, Gin hated her. Everyone else liked Keiko though, or at least got along with her. In fact, Gin was probably the only person (except maybe Hideaki, who occasionally got annoyed with her) who hated Keiko. I had to admit she was a bit air-headed sometimes, but she was good person.

"Yes," said Gin, sounding annoyed.

"Remind me again why you hate her."

"Because she's PERFECT," said Gin, annoyed. "And she purposely tries to act better than me with all her saint-stuff."

I raised an eyebrow. "Saint?" I repeated, skeptical.

"I agree with Akimoto," said Yutaka. "Keiko's not a saint, she's just…" Yutaka paused. "Well, she's just… herself."

"She's still ANNOYING," said Gin, scoffing. "Everyone likes her but I see the true side of her! She's evil and two-faced!"

Yutaka laughed out loud, and it took all of my tact not to do the same. "Y-You're kidding me, right?" Yutaka said, laughing. "Gin, _listen_ to yourself. You're talking about the girl who doesn't even understand when people are insulting her."

"You're also talking about the girl who tripped on her own feet and got up as though nothing happened," I added.

"Exactly," said Yutaka. "There's nothing evil about her. You just hate her because everyone likes her and hates you."

"But how can _anybody_ like her?" said Gin, looking appalled.

"I guess you wouldn't understand, since you're a bitch and nobody likes you," said Yutaka. Gin glared at him. "And besides, you're one to talk about annoying people…" The glaring only intensified.

"Why is it such a big deal?" said Hideaki, but nobody had a chance to answer him.

"Great! She's heading towards us!" Gin growled.

True to her word, Keiko came walking up to us. She smiled as she approached us.

"Hello!" she said, waving. "I haven't talked to any of you in awhile." She looked at Gin. "Especially you. It almost seems like you're avoiding me." She laughed. Gin forced herself to smile, her eye twitching slightly.

Of course, if Keiko wasn't oblivious to everything, she would've known Gin _was_ avoiding her. It's not that Keiko is stupid; it's just that she's pretty air-headed. In fact, she's a medic-nin and she's very smart (book-wise, anyways).

Keiko turned her attention to me and Hideaki. "I haven't been able to ask you guys about your mission personally, but I've already heard about it, obviously. It must've been a hard mission."

"Y'know," said Gin, before I could respond to Keiko. "_I_ was on that mission too." She sounded very snobby. Well, more than she usually was, anyways.

Keiko smiled. "I know."

"Then why didn't you direct that comment to me?" said Gin, sounding upset.

Keiko suddenly looked worried. "Sorry, I didn't think it would bother you. You don't seem very eager to go on missions. Sorry if I hurt your feelings… I didn't mean to."

Instead of getting a surge of pride or accepting Keiko's apology, Gin just looked appalled and angry.

Keiko didn't notice Gin's expression, because she had already shifted her attention to Hideaki. "By the way, Hideaki, I have a message from Hisenaga. He wants to speak to you, others are being sent there as well."

Hideaki nodded and left in a pace that seemed a bit faster than his normal pace. I sighed lightly, he was really eager to get out of there.

I had only met Hisenaga, leader of the ANBU's medical-field, a few times. The majority of the time I saw him were in meetings. He was a pretty nice man from what I can remember. My mom used to be a medic-nin for the ANBU, but only for a short while. However, she always spoke fondly of him, describing him as a very polite gentleman. She certainly wasn't lying, because he was always well-mannered in meetings. But sometimes, his kindness was his weakness. He's always trusting and too merciful, that sometimes, you wonder if he's really a shinobi at all.

"Well, I should leave too," said Keiko, smiling. "I hope I'll be able to talk to you all later." With that, she took off.

The moment she was out of sight, Gin growled excessively.

"See? SEE?" Gin hissed. "She purposely tried to make me seem rude! She was offended, she was pissed, she hated me but she hid it all with that stupid expression on her face! She decided to get back at me by making me seem like _I_ was the rude one!"

Yutaka looked severely annoyed. "You take things too seriously. And you _were_ the rude one."

"What? That's not true!" Gin snapped. She then whipped around, her hair flying behind her. "Akimoto! You agree with me, right?"

"Don't say no, Akimoto," I heard Yutaka say. "Otherwise she'll hate Keiko more, and think she's competition." He laughed and Gin looked at Yutaka with a look of pure anger. I just rolled my eyes.

"I really don't want to get in the middle of this," I said. "Stop dragging me into things."

Gin took my response too seriously. "Sorry, I didn't mean it like that…" She laughed nervously.

I sighed as I looked over the training grounds. People were scattered off in the distance. Some were training individually, with either serious or determined looks in their eyes, while others were carelessly sparring with friends. If it wasn't for the targets and dummies, it would've looked more like a courtyard than a training area. People walked through here, all busying about in a manner that reminded you of a bunch of ants walking around by an anthill. Everything was busy, everyone going in different directions and not paying any attention to the others.

Things seemed to be more crowded, though, since very few could actually go on missions and everyone else was left here.

I sighed heavily. Things were, frankly, dreary. Feeling suddenly discouraged, I soon left the training grounds and headed for home.

I reached outside my house and immediately saw my brother Kiyoshi sitting on the porch. His back was leaned against the wall, his legs were crossed and he was looking bored as he examined a worn-looking kunai.

I walked up the steps and onto the porch and I headed for the door.

"No greetings?" he said suddenly, the moment I grabbed the door handle. I looked at him, my eyebrows slightly raised. He looked a bit confused and upset.

"Well," I said slowly and awkwardly, trying to think of what to say. "I didn't think you'd mind."

"Well," he said, sounding just as awkward as I did. "I don't."

"Then why'd you sound upset?"

An awkward silence stirred in the air.

"I…don't know," he admitted. "Maybe I thought something was wrong."

"Oh. Well…" I stopped, unsure of what else to say.

Another silence filled the air.

"_So_?"

"_So_, what?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"_So_, is there something wrong?" he said.

"Well, things could be better, if that's what you mean."

"What's wrong?"

I blinked. He was really curious. "Nothing," I said. "Just with everything that's going on." He stared at me. "_You know_, with the whole war-thing. That and training's boring," I explained. I was going to keep going, but Kiyoshi decided to throw another comment at me before I could finish.

"You're getting better." He paused. "Well, not like there was much to improve, but still. You _are_ getting better."

I blinked twice. "Am I?" If I was improving, I wasn't aware of it. Training was becoming such a drag I didn't even pay much attention to what I was doing half the time.

"Well, at aiming, anyways. I saw you throwing a kunai at the target a couple of times yesterday. I used to be better than you, even though you were in ANBU. Now I can't get it close to what you can."

Even though it was all a compliment, I couldn't help but feel bad. Maybe I was imagining things, but he seemed to be slightly bitter when he said the last few bits in his speech.

I then recognized the kunai. It was just a plain one I used when I was training at home. We had a target on a tree in our backyard. The tree was old, every time you threw a kunai at the target on the tree, it'd make a clear _thunk_ noise. I usually use the same kunai for the same tree for a long time. Every once in awhile I'd replace the kunai with a new one. I didn't train much at home, so the kunai he had in his hands was probably pretty old. I didn't mind when anybody used it, but something about him looking at it made me feel uncomfortable.

I wasn't entirely sure what to say. I suspected he might've been jealous of me, so I felt guilty. "I could help you, if you want."

"I can do it on my own!" he said, sounding somewhat offended.

I stared at him for a moment, and, unable to think of anything to say that could help, I stepped into the house.

Almost immediately after stepping inside, Haruko had just exited out of her room from upstairs and came walking down the steps. She stopped halfway down and looked up at me.

"Oh. You're home."

"Yeah," I replied, as she moved down the remaining steps and then towards me.

"When'd you get here?"

"Literally just now."

"Ah," she said, nodding.

"Where is everyone?" I asked, glancing around.

"Mom left to pick up Kohana from the academy," she said. She started moving towards the kitchen, and I followed her as she continued to talk. I followed after slowly. "Dad's off, meeting with…" she paused to recall the name. "Well, I can't remember, but it's probably someone important." I rolled my eyes. If it was important, she should've remembered.

In the kitchen, I stood and leaned against the wall by the door while she took a glass out of a cupboard. She took some ice out of the fridge and filled up her glass. "Kiyoshi's outside."

"Yeah," I said. "I just saw him."

She went to the sink and began filling up her glass. The water shot down from the faucet and swirled into the glass. Haruko shut off the water when it was about halfway full.

She leaned her back against the counter and began to take a sip.

"What've you been doing?" I asked.

She shrugged. After finishing her long sip, she gently placed the glass on the countertop. She crossed her arms and looked at me. "I didn't really do anything. I am preparing for the Summer Festival though."

I blinked twice. She groaned.

"Don't tell me you forgot again…"

I couldn't find a way to respond, but even if I did, it wouldn't matter because she groaned again.

"You idiot!" she spat. "Summer's coming, and you've been so busy you can't even pay attention to the changing of the seasons! I'm working my butt of trying to find a date, getting a dress and debating over what parties I'm going to go to and you didn't even realize the festival was coming!"

"It doesn't feel like summer," I protested. "Besides, why are you making it such a big deal? It's not like it's the Spring Festival or Autumn Festival."

Konoha celebrated a festival for every season. The Spring Festival and the Autumn Festival were probably the biggest celebrations. The Summer Festival was meaningful, but didn't have the same impact on the village as the others.

"Yeah, if you forgot about _those_, I would've shunned you _forever_," Haruko said. I blinked twice. "But, still. The Summer Festival is still pretty important. Besides, it's fun! There's fireworks and parties and—"

_A bunch of people getting drunk_, I added.

Haruko continued. "—its fun, I don't get why you forgot."

I shrugged. "Because it's the same thing every year. Like you said, there are fireworks, parties and then there's food. Other than that, it's not significant."

"Well, the ANBU host a party too, right?"

"Well, yeah. But how'd you know that?"

"Because I might go to the party there," said Haruko, shrugging. She played with her glass a little. I almost laughed.

"Haruko, you're not in ANBU."

"You can still go in."

"Yeah, if somebody brings you. And I doubt you'd ever go out with an ANBU." I paused. "You're not seriously—"

"No, Akimoto. No."

I felt a surge of relief. A lot of ANBU were older and serious. The thought of Haruko with a serious, no-fun, old guy was just frightening.

"Then how do you honestly expect to get in?"

She looked at me and began fidgeting with her glass. I stared at her blankly until it donned on me. My eyes narrowed.

"I'm not going."

She scoffed. "Why not? Aren't your friends going to be there?"

"What friends? None of my friends are in ANBU."

The only people I could really get along with weren't in ANBU. That would be Gai, Chido and a couple of family friends.

Haruko set her glass down on the counter she was leaning against. She crossed her arms. "You can't honestly say that. I bet you have some friends. What about that Hideaki guy? He's on your squad, isn't he?"

"If it was up to me, he'd never be on my squad."

"What about Yutaka? He's cool."

"I don't consider him a friend. And he only seems cool because he's nice to practically every girl. Unless he finds them unattractive."

"Duh, I know that," said Haruko, rolling her eyes. "I know when a guy's trying to flirt, Akimoto. I meant he was cool just because… I dunno. There's just something slick about him."

"Look, even if I did have a million friends who were going, it wouldn't matter. They'd all be with dates and there's nothing fun to be around someone while they're on a date."

"Then get a date!" Haruko cried. "Please, Akimoto! I really wanna go!"

"No," I said. I was beginning to get irritated.

"It doesn't even have to be a real date. Just take that Gin person! She won't care if you ignore her as long as she can brag about being on a date with you!"

"No way. She's bad enough as it is. I don't want her to get her hopes up."

"Then just take somebody off the street."

"Why would I want to do that? I don't want to give them hopes either!"

"Then take someone you know who will not enjoy it at all!" she cried.

The only one I could think of was Jia Li, and maybe in some cases Mioshi. But why would I want to go with either of them?

"No, I'm still not going."

"Akimoto, that's not fair!" she cried. "I always do things for you!"

"Oh _really_? Name one time."

She stood there for a moment.

"Okay, so you're the one who always helps me… But still, Akimoto. I _really_ want to go."

"You want me to stand in a place alone being miserable?"

"But think about how happy _I'll_ be!" she said, grinning as if to show what it would be like. "There's nothing better than to make your darling sister happy!" She sighed. "I'll do _whatever_ you want! I promise!"

"What if I picked your date?"

I meant it as a joke, but really, I wouldn't have minded picking someone for her. Our entire family hated Haruko's tastes in men, even though we kept it a secret from her. It's not like she'd listen to us if told her anyways.

Haruko blinked twice. "Well, I'll do _almost_ anything."

I rolled my eyes.

"C'mon! Just do it for me!"

"Just go somewhere else."

Haruko huffed. "No wonder you have no friends! You're such a jerk!"

I winced. "Stop screaming. It hurts my ears."

Haruko groaned dramatically. "Then what are you going to be doing the festival?"

"Easy. I'll be sitting at home doing something productive."

"…Man you're boring."

"No, I'm just not going to waste my time doing stupid things. The festival's nothing important."

"Yes it is! It's very important! It brings people together, there's nothing more important than that!" she exclaimed. I stared at her. "…You have to admit, that was still a pretty good reason. Why can't you just do this one thing for me?"

"No," I said. I left the kitchen. Haruko followed after me.

"You're an ass!"

"Thanks," I said sarcastically, as I headed up the stairs.

"Well, don't worry. I'll bring up the subject again. You know I will!" she yelled after me.

Well, _yeah_. It wasn't hard to believe that she would bring up the same subject again later. That was just the way she was.

I was just at the top of the stairs when the door swung open.

"Mom! Akimoto's an asshole!"

I stared at her. "You've got to be kidding me," I muttered to myself. I turned around and saw my mother staring wide-eyed at Haruko, probably because she swore when Kohana was standing literally six feet away from her.

"Haruko!" she protested. She clapped her hands over Kohana's ears, as if Haruko hadn't already said it.

"What?" Haruko asked. My mother glared at her. "What?! It's not like she hasn't heard it before!"

"I don't think you're easing the situation Haruko," I said, when my mother stared, horrified.

"Mom," said Haruko. "It's not that big of deal. It's not like she's going to say it. I doubt she even knows what it means."

My mother sent Kohana outside to be with Kiyoshi. The moment Kohana was gone, my mother sighed heavily.

"Haruko, you should be more careful when you're talking. I mean, really…"

"Okay! Okay! Whatever, I will! But I need your help. You know how the festival is coming up?" My mother nodded. Haruko continued, "I want to get into the part of the festival that's restricted for the ANBU members."

"Haruko," my mother said bluntly. "You have to be an ANBU or be accompanied by an ANBU member to get in there. That's pretty much it."

"I know! But I don't have an ANBU as a date so I was hoping Akimoto could get me and my date in!"

"And I refused simply because I didn't feel like celebrating," I said.

"Well," my mother said. "Haruko, you'll have to find someone else to get you in then."

"Dad used to be in ANBU. Could he get me in?"

"I'm not sure…He's not in ANBU anymore. But it doesn't matter, because we're not going there, we're going to Naruto's."

"Akimoto's my only real hope!" Haruko exclaimed. "Make him take me to the festival!"

Somehow, what she said reminded me of how I had to take her everywhere when we were little. Somehow.

My mother looked up at me. My eyes narrowed, I stared back defiantly. She sighed.

"Haruko, I can't _make_ your brother go. It's his choice. Can't you just go elsewhere? Besides, it's not any different."

"If they're only allowing restricted members to go, then it can't be 'any different'."

"The only difference is that it's a bit more secluded. Unless you're in ANBU, you're not going to be able to make it in," my mother said. She sighed and muttered something about being tired.

"Mom's actually _been_ there before," I said. "She's right. It's not different from any other part of the festival. Start believing her." Haruko glared at me.

"You're not any fun."

"How? It's going to be _exactly_ the same."

"Whenever you have problems, everyone has to pitch in and help. But whenever I'm in the middle of a crisis, everyone just ignores me!" Haruko snapped, as she stomped up the stairs, passing me.

"That's because I don't have a crisis every five seconds!" I snapped. I hated yelling, but Haruko _always_ bothered me. It's like she refused to grow up. Sure, she had her moments, but other than that she was completely immature.

My mother sighed heavily. She kicked off her shoes. "You shouldn't yell."

"It's not like I _wanted_ to. She just doesn't get it. She thinks _everything_ is just a big party and everything should revolve around her. She's so conceited."

My mother looked like she was going to say something, but I headed up the stairs in a hurry. The moment I reached the landing, Haruko seemed to appear out of nowhere. She grabbed me by the arm and dragged me across the hall.

"Let go already," I said, pulling my arm away from her.

"Look," she said. "You and mom may have ganged up on me and said that the party is nothing, but I know better."

"Actually, you really don't."

"Actually, I really do," she snapped. "Now shut up listen." I raised an eyebrow. "Now, earlier you said you would take me."

"No I didn't."

"Yes you did. You said you'd take me if you got to pick my date."

I paused.

Shit. I really did say that.

"You want me to go with Gai, don't you?"

In truth, I wasn't thinking of anyone in particular when I had said that. But it's not like I was going to tell her that, especially where this was going.

"I guess."

"Okay, so if I go with him, I can get into the party, right?" she said.

I stared at her. "You're not going to go with him. You're going to find some way to sneak out of it. You always do."

Haruko's eyes narrowed. "Okay, so maybe I _will_ sneak out of it..."

"It's not going to happen if you're going to sneak."

"Well, it's not like I'll completely ditch him! I'll just… stay with him for awhile and then I'll leave."

"It's not going to happen, Haruko! Why do you always think you can trick your way out of things? Start using your head—_everything_ is not going to turn out the way you like unless you're willing to make sacrifices. Not _everything_ is going to turn your way just because you want it to. Grow up, already."

She scoffed. Annoyed, I stormed past her and towards my room.

"_Me_, grow up? Why don't you stop being so selfish?"

"Yeah, _I'm_ the selfish one Haruko," I snapped. Before she could say another word, I entered my room and slammed the door shut.

My father was barely there, my mother was rarely a comfort, Kohana was practically invisible, Kiyoshi was a nuisance and above all, Haruko was obnoxious.

Sometimes I felt like I wasn't related to my family at _all_.

End of Chapter

RLN: Akimoto's family troubles are back. Teh horrors! D:

I apologize for introducing yet _another_ character. And I'm sorry to say that there will be at least three more characters to be introduced.

Sorry it took me… _months_ to update. It wasn't even that impressive.

But yes. I'm making a festival. AREN'T I TOTALLY ORIGINAL?!

But yeah, it's something to make the story go forward a bit. I'll try to update faster, I can't make any promises though.

I didn't reread or edit the ending. I'll get to it later. If you notice any mistakes, tell me where they are. I'll appreciate it.


	16. Part 6: Hyuuga Jia Li

RLN: A quick reminder—Tsuya and Suzume are the Hyuuga girls we both met last time we were with Jia Li. That's kind of important in this chapter. xD

In case you get lost with all the rest of the characters, the important FG ones are here:

www dot freewebs dot com/futuregeniuses/characters dot htm

Before you start reading, I didn't edit very thoroughly, especially near the end. If you notice any mistakes, please point them out in a review so I can fix it when I re-edit.

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 6: Hyuuga Jia Li_

"Jia Li!"

Tsuya's excited shriek broke my concentration. The arrow I had aimed so perfectly went flying as I let go of my bow's string out of surprise. I missed my target by a landslide. I gritted my teeth as I seethed.

I had just managed to compose myself as Tsuya and Suzume came walking up to me. Tsuya was currently putting her hair up in a ponytail as Suzume quietly held both of their bows.

"Jia Li, I didn't know you were going to come and practice archery! You should've told me!" Tsuya said, just as she finished putting up her hair. Tsuya held out her hand, but Suzume practically shoved the bow into her arms. Tsuya sent Suzume a quick flash of anger. Suzume was unfazed, as usual.

"I didn't realize you were coming." If I had known, I would've stayed as far away from the Hyuuga archery grounds as I could.

"Well, tell me next time," Tsuya said. She glanced up at the target and noticed how far my arrow was from the bull's eye. She frowned. "I thought you were good at archery."

"I am." I'm just not good at tuning loud screeches out.

Tsuya looked skeptical (I didn't blame her—I was surprised the arrow hit anything at all), but she didn't press the issue any further.

"So is Yutaka here?"

I raised an eyebrow. "No. Why would he be?"

She scoffed. "I thought we had this discussion days ago! You promised that you were going to get to know him better, right?"

"I didn't promise _anything_."

"Tsuya, you can't honestly blame her for not wanting to go near Yutaka," said Suzume, frowning. "Besides, you're not even sure if Yutaka _does_ archery."

"Of course I'm not sure. But it would be great wouldn't it?" Tsuya smiled. "I bet Yutaka would look hot in a hakama."

I came dangerously close to asking Suzume to shoot me with an arrow. By the look on Suzume's face, I guessed she probably would be asking me to do the same for her. I managed to collect myself.

"Can we talk about something else for about five minutes?" I said, sighing.

"What's the big deal?" Suzume snapped.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "Nothing's a big deal! I just don't want people being nosey and getting into my personal business! I don't ask what's going on between you and Taro!" I hated raising my voice because I hated looking angry and childish, but she was getting on my nerves—especially on this whole Yutaka thing.

"I'm just trying to help you out!" I wanted to say something, but Tsuya kept going on. "Besides, there's nothing to say about Taro! He just sits there, staring blankly. It's kind of creepy, actually…"

I noticed Suzume looked like she was going to rip her hair out. She probably had to put up with Tsuya's arguments all day. Tsuya was never friendly with anyone, and she argued with everyone. Unfortunately for Suzume, I was too angry to have any sympathy.

"The fact is I don't come into your life! Just give me some breathing space for five minutes!"

Tsuya rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm not going to argue with you. I just came here to practice and relax."

I almost scoffed. It was unbelievable. She didn't want to argue and she practically started it by sticking her nose into my life.

I whipped around angrily and pulled an arrow from my quiver. From the corner of my eye I noticed Suzume and Tsuya preparing their arrows as well. They lined up next to me to shoot at the other targets.

I pulled my string back. For a brief second, me and Tsuya locked eyes. I lost my concentration once again and missed the bull's eye. At that point, however, I was too seething to even mind. I hastily just grabbed an arrow from the quiver on my back.

As I lined up my arrow with my bow, I took a quick second to relax myself. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I opened my eyes again and looked at the target intensely. Red ring, white ring, red ring, white ring, and then the red dot in the center…

I took another deep breath and notched the arrow to the string. I pulled the string back and concentrated hard on the target.

_I won't miss this time._

"_Does_ Yutaka take archery?" Tsuya wondered aloud.

I groaned out loud. I had missed again.

"Does it fucking matter?" Suzume snapped, taking the words from my mouth.

"I was just wondering!"

"Well I missed because of you!" Suzume snapped. I glanced at Suzume's target. Tsuya's questions seem to throw a lot of people off.

"Wow! You missed one time! I'm so ashamed!" said Tsuya sarcastically. She scoffed. "Jia Li's already missed the target twice, and her mom has the best accuracy in all of Konoha!"

"I missed both times because of _you_. The first time was when you called my name and the second time was when you had to ask your stupid question which we already covered," I said hotly.

"Stop pointing all the fingers at me!" Tsuya protested. "You just missed. Not _all_ skills can be inherited from your parents." I stared at her in disbelief. _Everyone_ knew I had my mother's weapon skills. Well, everyone except Tsuya, of course. "Don't get angry at me just because you two messed up."

She pulled back the arrow and she let it shoot off. It hit the target.

"See? I hit it!"

"That's because no one broke your concentration," Suzume protested.

"It shouldn't take that long to fire a stupid arrow."

"It is if you actually want to hit the bull's eye," I protested. Tsuya just shrugged and reached for another arrow.

"Jia Li, next time you see Yutaka, ask him if he takes archery. If he does, tell him I'm interested in practicing with him."

"I'll keep that in mind," I muttered bitterly.

"Don't you have your own fiancée to bother?" said Suzume, as she prepared another arrow. She seemed to glance warily at Tsuya before shooting it, as if making sure Tsuya wasn't going to break her focus again.

Tsuya frowned. "Taro doesn't do archery."

"That's not what I meant…" said Suzume scowling. I listened as I prepared my next shot. "I mean, you're so focused on telling Jia Li to spend time with Yutaka, yet every time you see him, you flirt with him."

Words couldn't express how happy I was that I didn't shoot my arrow at that very second. Missing twice was bad, but missing three times in a row was terrible since I was considered a weapons prodigy. I poised myself before shooting the arrow. My heart did a little dance as I finally hit the target.

"It's only going to be a couple of years before I get married to Taro—I might as well live up my single life while I can," said Tsuya, frowning. "And Yutaka's pretty interesting…"

"Can we please talk about something else? I'm starting to feel sick," I said, scowling.

"I second that."

"We will in a second," said Tsuya. "But I want to ask Jia Li something real quick."

I glared at her. "If you're going to ask me about Yutaka's archery skills, then for the umpteenth time, I _don't_ _know_."

"No! It's not that! You know the Summer Festival that's coming up?"

"I'm not going to be your date."

"It's not that either!" said Tsuya, rolling her eyes. "My mom wants me to go with Taro."

"Then _go_."

"Will you _please_ let me finish?" said Tsuya, glaring at me. I agreed reluctantly. "Okay. Well, I have a plan. Your mom is probably going to make you go with Yutaka right?"

I blinked. "…I don't know about _that_," I said. My mom knew I hated going to the festivals since I hated large crowds.

"Oh, well, still… I was thinking that since you don't like Yutaka and I don't like Taro that if we had to go to the festival that we'd switch dates."

"I don't like Taro either."

"I know you don't, but you can't possibly dislike him as much as you dislike Yutaka, from the way I look at it."

That was true.

"But I don't want to go to the festival."

"You just have to _pretend_ to go. When you're done pretending you can just wander around."

"There's no way my parents would let me go to a festival with someone else when I'm already engaged, especially if that person was also engaged himself."

"Again—you just have to pretend. Once we get to the festival we'll trade and then you can ditch Taro a bit later."

My fist clenched around my bow. I already had been ditched by my 'friends' in the past—I wouldn't be able to do it to someone else. Then again, Taro didn't seem like the type to care about anything… he'd probably be happy about it, given the situation.

"Why should I do this for you?"

"It's the only way to get to the festival without having to stick around Yutaka."

"That's true, but I could just stick around the house and _not_ go to the festival at all."

"But…if you leave and go, then your parents will be all happy and proud and…well, festivals are fun and…" I had to give Tsuya credit for trying. She tried hard to come up with excuses but I responded to them all with silence and blank stares.

She sighed and eventually decided to let it drop. "Okay, but at least think about it."

She had a lot of nerve.

"You have a lot of nerve," Suzume said. I blinked twice.

"Why?" Tsuya said, sounding more confused than offended.

"You can't go around flirting with other guys when you're engaged, especially if that person is also engaged. That and it's rude to just ditch your date."

"Like I said before—I don't have much time left before I get married."

"Stop tempting yourself—just stay away from dating other people altogether."

"I agree." I had to add something. Then I went back to focusing on shooting arrows. Well, I mean, I _tried_ to.

"It can't possibly bother you _that_ much," Tsuya said, directing the comment at me. "You said yourself you didn't like Yutaka."

"No, but ditching people is rude. _That's_ what bothers me."

"Then don't ditch Taro."

"It's not me ditching Taro that bothers me—I mean, if it was a decision between leaving and staying together, I know Taro and I would both choose staying as far away from each other as possible. It's _you_ ditching Taro that bothers me. It seems rude to ditch your fiancée."

"Why? You'd be doing the same thing!"

"I wouldn't be bothered because I don't like Yutaka…"

"And I don't like Taro! If it makes you feel any better, I'll tell Taro about the plan before doing it."

"I'm still not sure if I even want to do it…"

"Don't!" Suzume said. "You won't even really get anything out of it!"

"Well, you'll get to ditch your family," Suzume said.

"They'll be leaving anyways." Well, unless you counted the hour where my mother's side of the family came over for dinner, but I don't mind when that sort of thing happens—even if my grandpa did pester me to play shogi with him. But after that, my parents would go and leave to visit their friends at the festival. Then, my brother Hyoshi also went off with friends and usually ended up taking our youngest brother, Lok, with him. After that, I was all on my own.

"I'll give you a favor whenever you want, whatever you want," said Tsuya. She smiled hopefully.

…I wondered if that included leaving me alone.

That thought alone was enough to motivate me.

"Okay, I'll do it."

"Yay!" she cheered. She hugged me. I stared at her, disgusted. I noticed Suzume was shaking her head—I wasn't sure if she was disappointed in me or embarrassed by Tsuya…probably both.

Tsuya let me out of her death grip and began jumping around excitedly.

"Oooh! I can't wait! I'll have to pick something out!"

I was surprised she hadn't placed out an outfit for weeks—she seemed like that kind of person, to me.

"Did you choose something yet, Jia Li?" she asked me.

"Do you mean an outfit for the festival?" I said, raising an eyebrow. I stared at her incredulously. She was officially the first person I had ever met that actually thought I would go out and go shopping for clothes. Everyone knew I didn't have that type of tolerance. Even if I did, there was no need to look. My mother had a natural gift for picking out practical yet still good-looking clothing so I let her do my shopping for me.

So what if I was a little dependant on her? It's better than having to choose yourself and being stuck in stores and waiting in long lines. **(1)**

"Then we'll look together for something!"

I stared at her, somewhat horrified. I glanced over at Suzume. She sighed and gave me this look that was along the lines of I-told-you-so.

"I'm sure I already have something," I said slowly.

It was her turn to stare at me horrified. "You mean you're going to wear something you already have?"

"No, I think I've already bought something that I can wear," I lied.

"Oh. Well, I still want to discuss outfits sometime." She turned to Suzume. "What about you, Suzume? What are you doing for the festival? And what are you wearing?"

While Suzume sputtered to come up with a response, I decided it was probably my best chance to leave.

After all, it's not like I was hitting the target.

I slipped away skillfully and headed back to my house. I decided to place my equipment on the dining room table, just for the time being.

Summer in Konoha was absolute hell. I was outside for less than an hour and I was already sweaty—but I guess the inside of buildings weren't that much better.

I took a shower, got dressed in my bathrobe and then I wrapped my hair in a towel. My mother once scolded me for doing that, saying that it's not good for my hair, but my hair was thick so I didn't mind.

I eventually put the equipment away in its rightful place.

I was unsure of what to do after that, so I lazily headed over to the fridge and looked inside. I was about to taking something out, but I stopped myself. I wasn't hungry—just bored.

I sighed, closed the fridge and wandered over to the kitchen counter and leaned against it. I drummed my fingertips on the surface. For some reason, I briefly wished that I had long fingernails so I could make that _click_-_click_ noise. I was _that_ bored.

I wondered where my family was. My brothers were probably outside since my youngest brother Lok had the ability to stay in the house for five minutes and break everything inside by running around like a maniac and if he was outside, someone had to be with him. That and my brother Hyoshi usually helped Nyoko train around this time. Nyoko was the son of Naruto, the Hokage, and Hinata, my father's cousin.

Nyoko inherited the byakugan from his mother so my brother helped him train it. Unfortunately, Nyoko didn't inherit his mother's patience and instead inherited his father's bounciness. He was easily bored whenever he was near my brother. Some people look at me and think I'm boring, but they've yet to meet my brother, who sits there like a rock along with his blank stare and somewhat depressing philosophies.

I sighed heavily and went off to room. When I stepped inside my room, I noticed it was sort of messy. I could've picked up then, but I lacked motivation and made a mental note to deal with it later.

I freed my hair from the towel and threw it in my hamper. I sat down on my bed. Not to far from the head of my bed was my dresser. I noticed a book on it and reached for it. I recognized the cover right away. It was something my aunt had gotten for me. I had already finished reading it. It was a good story, but it dragged on a lot, which is bad if you're not all that excited about being a reader. Sure, I could get into books, but sitting around reading one took too much time and patience.

I tossed the book back up on the dresser. Then I straightened my posture and crossed my legs.

There had to be something I could do. What did other teenage girls usually do in their spare time?

Suddenly, I frowned at the thought.

_Of course_, I thought to myself. _They're probably giggling with friends or dating boys or obsessing over their nails._

I imagined myself doing those things and came close to vomiting. Giggling with friends, dating boys and obsessing over nails was not my thing. My thing was training and that was already taken away from me today, courtesy of Tsuya and Suzume.

I had to do something productive. I finally got out of my bathrobe and got dressed and then started brushing my hair, which took forever. I had long, thick hair and even though I was proud of it, I hated taking care of it. It took up too much time.

I was putting up my hair when I heard the front door open. I recognized the presence so I wasn't too worried. It was Hikari, my oldest 'cousin'. Nyoko was her little brother, so she usually came over to pick him up.

I quickly finished putting my hair up before going into the front room. Hikari was taking off her shoes when I came in.

"Hi Jia Li," she said. She finished taking off her sandals. "Do you know if Nyoko's finished training today?"

"I have no idea," I said. "I was out of the house most of the day. They're not here though, so I guess he's still training."

"Okay."

I was unsure of what else to say. "Do you want to check on them or…?" I trailed off.

She shook her head. "No, I'll just wait for him to get back. I'm not in any hurry to see my brother." She laughed. "He's really annoying."

I could relate. Lok was annoying as hell, and my parents genuinely wondered why I stayed out of the house as much as I could.

"Oh. Well, you can come into the kitchen and sit down." We both walked into the kitchen and did just that. I was unsure of what to say, but Hikari always broke silences.

"I heard you went on a mission."

I wondered whether or not the entire world knew that or Hikari just knew because her father was the Hokage.

"Yeah," I said. I was unsure of what else to add.

"Okay," she said slowly. "Well, how did it go?"

"…Well, I'm alive," I said awkwardly. She laughed.

"I can see _that_. But how did it _go_?" She looked at me expectedly. I frowned. I really did have much to say.

"It was different," I started. "Harder than any mission I've gone on." That much was true, since most of the missions I've gone on were easy, but I didn't have that much trouble on it. Sure, it was harder, but it wasn't excruciatingly difficult.

There were quite a few things I could've mentioned, but I wasn't prepared to tell an eleven-year-old that I killed someone, even if that someone was an enemy.

"I heard a bunch of people went on the mission," she said. "My friend Kiyoshi said that his brother and sister went on the mission."

Haruko and Akimoto were the only siblings who were on the mission, so I guess that was who she was referring to.

"Yeah, you're right. There were a total of five people who went on the rescue mission."

"I heard it was A-ranked."

"Well," I said. "It could've been any rank, really. Nobody knew what was wrong. I guess it was hard, but I don't think it would be _A_-ranked."

"So I guess my dad sort of overestimated it."

"Well, yeah," I said awkwardly. "But you can't blame him. Nobody had any idea what was going on. All they could do was guess."

"But you still got to go on the mission, even though you were a genin."

I was sort of startled by that statement. I shrugged it off. "It's just a rank."

Hikari smiled. "That's true."

"You're going to be a genin soon, right?" I said.

"Yeah!" she exclaimed. "I'll be a genin in one year." She grinned.

I heard the front door swing open again. Hikari and I went to the front room. Nyoko, Hyoshi and Lok were there.

"Alright Nyoko," said Hikari. "Let's go home."

"What?" he exclaimed. "Already? Can't I have a break first?"

"Come on!" Hikari protested. "I'm not waiting for you! The faster we get home the sooner you can take your break."

"That's not fair! I'm tired."

"Then try your best not to fall behind. Now let's go already!"

"Hey!" Nyoko protested when Hikari grabbed the back of his shirt. She dragged him out of the door.

"That looks like it'd be fun!" Lok exclaimed when Hikari and Nyoko were gone.

"What looks fun? Getting dragged by the back of your shirt?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

Lok frowned. "Where'd you get that idea?"

I blinked twice. "Uhm, what?" I said, but Lok ran out of the room before replying to my question. "…There's something wrong with that kid."

"You shouldn't have hit him on the head, then," said Hyoshi. I raised an eyebrow. Did he just talk back to me?

"Anyways," I said. "How's the training going?"

"I was about to ask you the same thing. The chuunin exams are coming up."

"Shouldn't you be more concerned about that than me?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"You mean you're not entering."

"I never said that. I am entering. But you are too, right?"

"Well, yeah. I just thought you'd be more focused than I am. After all, you're still a genin."

I frowned. I was sort of upset about the way he said that. "Well, yeah. But it's just a rank." I protested.

"Yeah," he agreed quietly. "It's just a rank."

End of Chapter

RLN: Sorry for the abrupt ending and lack of twists, but I wanted to get it done with. I have more planned for Gai, so I'm sure the next chapter might be a bit more exciting than this one. At least this chapter was faster.

Review please. :3 I live for the reviews. And please point out any grammar and spelling mistakes in your reviews, please. I'll be re-editing this chapter soon.

(1) **So what if I was a little dependant on her? It's better than having to choose yourself and being stuck in stores and waiting in long lines.** Every time I read that line, I get this mental image of a huge shopping mall in Konoha. Oo In case you're wondering, no, I'm not putting a mall in Konoha. x( I'm not _that_ weird. I mean, can you seriously imagine that? Ninjas running around in malls?


	17. Part 6: Rock Gai

RLN: This chapter wasn't as eventful as I was hoping, but that might be the way the next few chapters are going to be.

Anyways, I have all the plotlines for all of the FG heroes figured out, from beginning to end. But I'm not giving anything away!

So anyways, here's the new FG chapter.

_Future Geniuses_

_Part 6: Rock Gai_

I always sort of wondered how I'd die.

After all, when you're a ninja and you're putting your life on the line on every mission, there are hundreds of ways you can die. It's normal for a shinobi to wonder how it's all going to end because 'dying of old age' isn't always how it works out for a ninja. Countless of ninja die on missions—that's how our world works.

I've thought of many ways I'd die—but dying by the hands of my father wasn't always what I'd imagined…

Well, not _always_, anyways. I mean the thought never crossed my mind recently, until now, that is.

"Oi! Gai!"

I wasn't able to look over my shoulder to see who was talking to me—after all, there was a giant weight strapped onto my back.

Well, that and the fact that I had been blindfolded and had been instructed to take my weight up a trail that decided to go up and down hills.

I didn't need to look to see who it was anyways. It was Toyo, my younger brother, who also shared my father and my father's teacher's enthusiasm and obedience.

It was quite annoying, actually.

"_What_?" I asked, exasperated. I had given up on tact _long_ ago.

"You're not hauling that right! It's okay to bend your knees, but you can't _slouch_!" he protested, his voice almost sounding whiney.

I growled. "I'll go through hell and back before I start taking orders from a brat like you!"

"I'm not a brat!"

"Toyo, Gai…" I heard a meek voice from behind. It was Kameko, my sister. "We should be focusing on finishing, not arguing…"

"But he's not doing it right!" Toyo exclaimed.

"Shut up!" I snapped. "You guys don't realize how hard it is! You guys are doing something easy! I have to go up a friggin' hill with this stupid weight while _blindfolded_! Do you guys even realize that I can kill myself doing this?"

"Well," Kameko said quietly. "Dad _is_ being a little extreme, but…"

"'A _little'_?" I echoed, erupting. "He's trying to kill me! And I swear—if I get called 'Junior' one more time, I'll—"

"Gai, calm down…"

"Why should I? You guys are seriously underestimating the training that dad dumped on me—all you have to do is bring up buckets of water!"

"You had to do that too when you were our age," Toyo said. "And you didn't have the passion or the strength to do it, that's why you quit!"

I gritted my teeth. "Kameko! Hit Toyo for me!" I ordered.

"Gai…" I heard Kameko sigh.

I tried to look in the direction where I imagined Toyo might be.

"Once I can see again, you're dead."

"I'm over here, stupid."

"Dead!" I repeated, before marching up the hill.

"You're straying off the trail!"

I froze.

"Shut up!" I snapped. I started heading in the other direction anyways.

I heard Kameko sigh again, and soon, I heard them both trotting after me.

"What kind of sane man does this to his children?" I muttered, to no one in particular. Then a thought hit me. _Oh yeah, he's not sane. He's a fucking lunatic._

"Gai! If you don't hurry up, we're not going to make it in time!" I heard Toyo complain.

I frowned. "In time for what?"

"He means it's nearing sunset," Kameko explained.

It took me a brief moment to let that sink into my mind.

"What?!" I cried. I reached up and began to untie my blindfold.

"Gai!" I heard Toyo scream angrily. "Dad specifically said you shouldn't—"

"Shut up, Toyo!" I snapped. "I'm only taking it off for a second! Dad's never going to find out!"

To my surprise, Toyo did not respond. For a moment, it surprised me, but I continued to untie my blindfold nonetheless. I removed the cloth.

The moment I could see again, I found myself face to face with someone familiar…

"Shame on you, Junior!"

…Nonetheless, I was surprised.

"What the hell?!"

I walked a few steps back away from my father's teacher to make some distance between us. When I had taken off my blindfold, he was right in my face. It was creepy.

"When we you finish your task, I suppose me and your father will have to think of something to make up for your rule-breaking! I know! How about you do a hundred laps or skipping around the village to make up for it?" he suggested.

I glared at him. "I wouldn't skip around a _bush_ if you _made_ me."

Kameko blinked. "Isn't that an oxymoron?" she murmured to no one in particular.

No one really paid attention to her statement. Then 'GOOD OL' SENIOR GAI' started to suggest a million other cruel punishments. I wasn't about to do any of them. I didn't even want to finish _this_ task (nevertheless, I had sighed heavily and put my stupid blindfold on).

I wasn't paying attention to Gai, who was running circles around us while throwing out more suggestions.

I heard someone whisper, "See! I told you not to take it off!"

"Shut up, Toyo."

It was a long day.

I finished going up hills with a giant weight strapped to my back while blindfolded and after I finished taking it back home (which was my consequence for taking off the blindfold), I flopped onto my couch in the living room and prepared to take a nap.

I had just relaxed my self when suddenly; a loud pounding came from the front door.

I would've groaned but I probably would've broken a muscle if I did, so obviously, I chose to keep my groans to myself.

After I dragged myself to the front door in a posture that was similar to an old man with back problems and arthritis, I opened the door and found myself face to face with Chido.

I was about to tell him to go away (Chido had the energy of a jackrabbit and at the moment I didn't have the energy for a dead snail), but he decided to invite himself right into my house.

"'Sup, Gai."

I pushed the door shut, and could've sworn my back screamed as I did so.

He turned around to look at me.

There he was—standing there with a big, stupid grin on his face…

…And here I was—looking as if Haruko was given a choice and decided to date a 50-year-old homeless person instead of me.

I noticed him staring at me, with an expression that was a crossover between confusion and disgust.

"_What_?" I asked icily.

He snapped out of it. "Huh? Oh nothing, it's just…" he trailed off, trying to think of an excuse. "…Uhm, you look good!"

Did his eye just twitch? Oh well, it didn't matter, he could've been the best actor in the world and I still would've been able to tell he was lying.

"Cut the crap. I know I look like shit."

"Then maybe you should fix yourself up?" Chido suggested slowly.

I gave him a glare that would've made Hyuuga members cry like little children.

"I was going to take a nap."

"Oh come on, Gai," Chido protested. "Ever since you started picking up your training with your dad, you've had no energy to do _anything_. That's _boring_."

"Shouldn't _you_ be training?" It sort of irritated me—it was his idea to start this whole rivalry thing, and I was breaking bones while he still had energy to run around Konoha like his pants were set on fire.

"For your information, I have been," said Chido flatly. I looked at him skeptically. "In fact, I've already developed three new ideas for my elemental tags."

I raised an eyebrow. "_Just_ ideas?" I said dryly.

Chido coughed. "Well, yes, they're just ideas at the moment… I've been trying to make them, but I just ended up setting my pants on fire…"

I blinked twice, never realizing my simile was actually based off a true event.

I got back on the original topic. "Well, anyways, I don't have the energy to go anywhere right now."

Chido thought for a moment. Then his face lit up as he came up with an idea.

"How about we go to some hot springs? That'll relax you!"

I glared at him. "Chido, you _know_ I hate going to the hot springs."

Chido raised an eyebrow. "I do?"

"Yes, you do know," I said with a sigh. "Because the only one we can afford to go is the public one—you know, the ones where there's a bunch of people you don't know sharing the springs with you…"

"So? What's wrong with that? It's not like you have to talk to them."

My eyes narrowed. "I don't exactly get off on watching a bunch of naked, wet, old guys running around in towels…"

"You're being overdramatic. If they were naked, they wouldn't have towels! That's an oxymoron, idiot!"

I seethed.

"That's true but they have springs you can reserve for private parties!"

I frowned. "Chido, don't you think it would be awfully suspicious if two guys—especially if those two seemed really close—reserved a private hot spring for just them alone?"

He blinked twice. "What do you mean?"

I stared at him incredulously. I sighed and shook my head. There was no hope for him. "Chido, if you're at some bar and some guy asks you if you want to come to his apartment and have coffee, do _not_ say yes," I warned.

Chido laughed. "Duh, Gai, I know _that_! Don't be stupid! If I was at a bar, there would be plenty of drinks and I wouldn't be thirsty enough to have coffee!"

He then continued laughing as if I was an idiot. As he laughed, I made a mental note to never let Chido go to a bar alone once we were old enough to drink.

"Anyways, what does that have to do with the subject?"

"I just don't want to go anywhere…I have no energy at all."

He sighed. "Fine, be that way." I rolled my eyes. "It seems like these exams are going to be crazy."

I wasn't sure if he meant they were crazy because of the actual test or because of the training we were doing to get into the exams.

"Well, yeah," I said. I decided to answer both questions into one, "It takes a lot to pass the test in order to get into the actual exams."

"We're going to go into it together, though," he said, grinning. "And we're going to pass."

I smiled, but deep down I was skeptical. Even rookie Jounin seemed leagues ahead of us.

"Well, we're going to have to do something eventually. This training's driving us crazy…"

He had no idea.

"…but we'll save that for another time. See ya, Gai," Chido said, before heading out the door.

_Now_ it was time for my nap. I headed over to the couch and plopped myself onto it. I glanced at the door warily before closing my eyes. It wasn't long before I fell asleep.

When I had woken up, I felt groggy, which was always how I felt after I fell asleep before it was nighttime.

Shortly after I had woken up, my dad entered the house.

_Perfect timing_, I thought to myself bitterly.

My dad, brother and sister all came into the house.

"Hello, Gai!" my father said, practically prancing into the living room where I was resting.

I saw my brother head up the steps and my sister head into the kitchen.

Crap. I was trapped.

"Hi Dad," I said. "Have you checked in on mom at work at all?"

Although that was an excuse to talk about something other than training (which I was pretty sure he was going to bring up), I also genuinely wondered where she was. I needed to talk to her about the Jounin exams. Besides, he said he was going to see her. That's why he, Kameko and Toyo didn't come home right away.

My mother was a ninja and, even though she was blind, she was a good asset to missions. However, she did most of her work by helping with exams like the Chuunin exams, Jounin exams and even ANBU. She was capable of being on missions, but she wanted to stay near home for Toyo and Kameko, since my dad was already a Jounin and went on missions.

"As a matter of fact, yes, we did!" he exclaimed enthusiastically. "We stayed there for awhile, and then Toyo and Kameko came with me as we did some errands. What did you do?"

"I slept."

He looked on, urging me to keep going on.

"…And that's it," I said bluntly.

"Oh." He seemed disappointed with my lack of story-telling. But honestly—what was he expecting from me? What stories could I have possibly told him? I was only asleep for a couple of hours—not even.

I waited for him to leave, but he just sat there. I raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm, is there anything you want to say to me Dad?" I asked.

"No."

I waited for him to leave.

An awkward silence filled the air.

He coughed. "Uhm, I'm going to go upstairs right now…"

He headed for the stairs. I sighed heavily. Shortly after my dad was out of sight, Kameko entered the room.

"Hey Gai."

"Hey Kameko," I replied rather unenthusiastically.

She sat on the arm of the couch. "Did you fall asleep or something?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Can you blame me?"

She smiled sheepishly. "Uhm, no… I guess not," she replied. She changed the subject. "The festival's coming up."

"Yeah, I know."

"Well… what are you planning on doing?"

"If dad keeps pushing me like this in training, I'll probably be spending the free day writing my will. What are you doing?"

"Nothing much," she said as she began to think about it. "I think my friends and I are just going to run around the festival."

Her words put a strange yet hilarious mental image through my mind.

"Aren't you going to spend the day with your friends?"

I was snapped out of my thoughts. "Huh? Oh, uhm, I dunno… I don't think it's that big of a deal."

She frowned. "You have to see the fireworks at _least_."

"Maybe."

The thrill of festivals—especially the Summer Festival—seemed to have died out on me as I got older. I suppose it was only a matter of time before I realized it was the same thing each year. What happens is that you travel out into the streets and then suddenly holiday drunks start flying out of the bushes and relatives would crowd around you, poking into your personal life.

"Get a girlfriend already!" My great-aunt would always say.

_Uhm, _yeah_, why haven't I thought of _that_ before? _I'd ask myself sarcastically every time she told me that.

"I don't think I'm going to do anything for the festival."

Kameko shrugged and decided not to push the issue any further. She got up and left.

I thought for a moment. Once the festival came around, the chuunin exams would follow, then the Jounin exams… I had plenty of time, but when I thought about it that way, it seemed closer than it actually was.

I instantly regretted thinking about it because I was filled with worries. Very few people reached Jounin rank and I wasn't all that great of a ninja. In fact, when I was in the academy, my rank was very low.

"When's Mom going to come home?" I asked her.

"I don't remember her saying anything, but she's probably not going to come home until later tonight." She raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

I returned the look. "Does it matter?"

"Sorry… I guess not."

"Don't apologize…" I was starting to get annoyed with her apologizing habit.

"I'm going upstairs," she announced when she realized there was nothing left to talk about. She headed towards the staircase. I heard her footsteps go up the stairs and move around the upper level.

The rest of the day just dragged on as I waited for my mother to come home. I did everything I could to past time. I even played cards. When she finally opened the front door, I practically ambushed her.

She smiled. "Hello Gai."

People were always surprised that my mother was able to tell who was who since she was blind. I never understood why. All she did was sense the person's chakra. Even people who can see are able to do that—it wasn't any different.

She shut the door behind her and slipped out of her shoes.

"Where are my slippers?"

I looked around the room.

"I have no idea. Upstairs?"

She frowned. "I guess so…" She shrugged. "Oh well."

"Mom," I said. I followed her into the kitchen.

"What is it?" she asked as she groped around the room in search of the table. When she reached the dining table, she grabbed a chair and sat down. I sat down next to her.

"I've been meaning to ask you about the Jounin exams…"

"Are you planning on entering?"

I couldn't help but be taken back by her surprised tone.

"Well, yeah… is something wrong?"

She frowned. "Well, _no_, but… do you think you're ready?"

"No, not yet," I admitted. "But I will be."

"Gai, maybe you should think carefully about entering. A lot of strong ninja aren't accepted. You can't expect to cram in a bunch of training at the last second," she said. "I'm not saying I won't support you, I'm just saying I want you to think carefully about it…"

"Well, yeah," I said. "I understand."

Even though I did understand, I couldn't help but feel hurt by her lack of enthusiasm. I knew she was trying to be realistic, but I still couldn't help but feel let down.

But I suppose if she was super-enthusiastic, she'd be the same as my father, and I didn't need that.

"I need your help, though," I said. "I was kind of wondering if you could help me prepare…"

"I thought you were training with your father again…"

"I am and I'm going to keep training. I just want to know what I need to prepare for."

"I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell you that." She looked a bit concerned.

Honestly, the answer was pretty disappointing. After waiting all day for her to come home, I half-expected her to dish out all the details to the exams.

"All I can tell you is that if you pass the entrance exams, you might have a good shot."

I looked at her hopefully.

"But again—I said _if_ you pass the entrance exams…"

I looked at her inconsolably.

"Well, anyways, while we're on the subject of training… how are things going?"

I groaned loudly. She smiled.

"Is it really that terrible?"

"Even when I don't have Dad and his teacher watching my every move, Toyo's there to supervise."

She laughed, her voice ringing throughout the room.

"It is just like Toyo to do that. He's always your father's little helper and follower."

"Not to mention a pain in the ass."

She sat there, a flat expression on her face.

"I mean… he's too… _enthusiastic_."

She seemed (just barely) satisfied with my new choice of words.

"Well, I know that things can be frustrating," she said, shrugging. "But that's life. It's better to be calm and relaxed about these things."

I almost banged my head on the kitchen table.

I didn't understand why adults were so insistent on giving the same lectures over and over again. Even the biggest idiot of Konoha (somehow, a mental image of Chido flashed through my mind) could tell it was pretty obvious to stick through training—even if it was hard.

Had I been asked at the time, I'd probably say that yes—I _had_ lost all hope in my mother. Out of all the people who thought I needed to be told that I needed to suck it up—which I was pretty sure I didn't—I never expected one of those people to be my mother.

True, losing faith in one's mother seemed wrong, but if she had lost hope for you, it was basically just getting even.

So instead of pounding my head repeatedly on the table, I just told her that I agreed with her and that I'd try harder.

It's disappointing when you're working your butt off and all you get in return is the title 'lazy'.

Before I knew it, I was beginning to doubt myself. I pledged to myself that I'd try out for the Jounin exams, but now it seemed like I was biting off more than I could chew.

All I could do was keep trying and hope for some type of miracle.

End of Chapter

RLN: This chapter sucked ass. Especially the ending, not to mention I didn't reread the chapter…

I finally update after months and it sucks.

Ah well. It's better than nothing. I was hit with this giant writer's block and at this point, I just needed to update. I had no material for Gai's chapter this time around, so this chapter was just a basic update so I could get a move on.

Ah well. I already did a plotline for all three main characters, so I know where I'm going with this story. This chapter contributed little to the plot. But unfortunately, due to the way I decided to write this story, doing a chapter that doesn't contribute to the plot makes the story move forward.

I feel like shit for doing it, but again… it was better than nothing.

Maybe the next update will be faster, hopefully.

Anyways, in case you guys didn't know, I'll be distracted lately due to work on my original stories. I've spammed about it in all of my blogs and on my profile. I'd appreciate some support on my original stories, so if you want details, check out my profile.

And yes, I totally went there and advertised.


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